


Winter's Bite

by aryiakirby



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A little angst, Bucky Barnes feels bad, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kinda, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, also I have way too many characters in this fic, not too much because I’m bad at writing it, tony Stark is recovering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-06-20 14:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15536457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryiakirby/pseuds/aryiakirby
Summary: Between pardons, awkward reunions, and a failed attempt at restoring Bucky Barnes, Tony feels as though he has no time to think. Least of all, an unexpected romance.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> yo yo yo! Gotta wineriron fic for ya'll because it's actually my favourite odd pairing and I can't deal with these two idiots. Lemme know if you enjoy!!

Chapter **One**

 _‘The Avengers Civil War’._ That’s what they were calling it. It was trending on at least five social media platforms, there were multiple articles detailing the event, fanpages and meme pages creating content about the event, and Tony was sick of it.

The name was accurate. The articles were not.

_‘Tony Stark kicks out Captain America after fight over Accords.’_

_‘The Avengers have officially split.’_

_‘Tony Stark says ‘Rogers and his team are no longer welcome’.’_

Not one article actually explained how the fight went down, and no one truly knew what happened in Siberia. Except for Rhodey, he knew, and boy, was he mad. Tony nearly had FRIDAY initiate lockdown, that was more so for Rhodey’s sake than anyone else.

There were times, however—in between the articles and the news reports and in between Rhodey wanting to hug Tony and him wanting to punch Rogers—that Tony felt perhaps if he had listened to Steve better, maybe helped Barnes out, tried to make piece with Maximoff, this whole ordeal could have been avoided. Then again, if Steve had told Tony years before, the truth of his parent’s death, Tony may have reacted better.

“Tony, you better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

The black ‘super genius’ mug nearly dropped from his hands.

“Platypus, what’d I tell you about sneaking up on me?” Tony mumbled, he took another sip of his coffee and prayed to God it would wake him up. He had two conferences this afternoon to sort out the new accords and the rogue Avengers, he was not looking forward to either of them. He briefly wondered if Pepper would let him get a cheeseburger.

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon, I hardly think anyone would be sneaking around at this time.” Rhodey strutted into the kitchen and grabbed his war machine mug from the dishwasher. It was still dirty.

“Why hasn’t this been washed?” Rhodey asked, “Why haven’t any of the dishes been washed?”

“Haven’t had the time,” Tony responded with a shrug. He hadn’t had much time for anything. It had been six months since the events of ‘Civil War’ and Siberia but he felt as though he was on a continuous rollercoaster, sometimes he slowed down, only for the pace to pick back up and so forth. The six months flew by in no time.

Tony was in hospital that first month but still regularly helping with the press. The second month he spent in the lab, mostly. He designed new suits and back up suits, creating leg braces for Rhodey, updating his AI’s and security protocols, and improving everything he could.

The third month, Tony’s injuries had healed completely but Pepper still thought it better for him to rest some more. So, he continued building and creating and improving. Many sleepless nights came from that month.

When the fourth month came, Tony insisted he helped to clean up the mess from ‘Civil War’. Pepper agreed, even if it was a little bit hesitant. Tony jumped straight into the middle of things. He met with UN officials and different country represents to talk about new Accords, the punishments for the other Avengers, and guidelines for other supers.

He helped out families that were caught in the crossfire and paid for gofundme pages. He worked with Pepper to begin a non-profit organization that would help young Americans through college. He cut loose ends and tied them with a pretty bow. He cleaned up after himself, and his friends.

By the sixth month, everything had slowed down, a tad. Pepper took care of the media, Stark Industries and Stark Kids—they took the name after one twitter user noted that Tony acts like a father figure to everyone. Rhodey dealt with training procedures for the military and new initiates.

All Tony had to do was see to it that the new Accords were smoothed over.

“Right.” Rhodey said, “You have—” He glanced at his watch, “—Forty five minutes until your ass needs to be at the UN meeting.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Tony brushed Rhodey’s warning away, “It takes me no time to get ready.”

“Uh huh.”

Tony chose not to respond, and took a sip of his coffee instead.

It was all gone.

“Fuck,” He whispered and set the mug down in the sink. He ignored the stern glare from Rhodey and walked out of the kitchen, across the compound and into his room. Velvet black or just plain black? Dramatic or average? To be or not to be?

He settled for the plain black, Italian cut suit. Pepper might murder him if he went for a velvet suit, but then again…

He cast a solemn glance at his velvet suit but in the end, put on the suit and made his way to the chauffeur, who happened to be Happy.

“‘Ullo, Happy,” He said. Happy opened the back seat for him and shut it once he was comfortably inside. He made his way around the car to the driver’s seat.

“Afternoon, Mr Stark.” Happy finally replied.

“How many times have I told you to call me Tony?”

“I know, sir, but you are my boss and I would rather keep you as my boss.”

Tony just sighed and slunk down in the back seat. Not for the first time but definitely the first time in a long time, his stomach was in knots about the upcoming meeting.

Normally, they stuck to the Accords and talked about what laws to set and which ones could be bent and whether everyone had fair treatment, ectera, ectera.

Today was different. For the first time in months, they would be deciding on which actions to take against Roger’s and his team. Tony wanted to punish them, never allow them to come back to the States, take away their licenses, and send them on their merry way. He also knew, should the threat ever arise, the world would need them. It didn’t make the betrayal hurt any less.

Steve and Tony were never besties, but they were teammates and Tony liked to think they were family, too. He respected Steve, how could he not? He’d grown up with stories about the star spangled boy toy and how he heroically helped stop World War II. He knew that Steve thought Tony was too prideful and  too reckless, but he had proven himself. He had shown Steve that he was more than jokes and sarcasm and that when it came down to it, Tony would always help in battle. Was any of it enough?

_‘He’s my friend.’_

Tony wanted to bang his word against the car window. He couldn’t sit still any longer or his mind would stray somewhere deep and dark, but the longer he sat there, the more he thought.

The car felt so small.

His chest felt so deep.

He could hear FRIDAY’s voice counting from three.

_‘Breathe in sir.’_

_1, 2, 3._

_‘Exhale.’_

_5, 4, 3, 2, 1._

Tony closed his eyes and tried to control his breath.

“Happy, how far?”

“We’re here, Mr Stark.” His voice sounded far away but Tony knew he was just in the driver’s seat.

He heard the car door shut and Happy’s footsteps as he rounded the car, then he heard his door open.

“Sir, are you okay?”

Tony opened his eyes and stared at the head of the passenger seat. _Calm yourself, Tony._

“Yep.” He said and then just to confirm, “I’m a-okay.”

“This way, then.”

Tony walked just a step in front of Happy and used the time to regroup.

_We’re just talking about them, Tony. They’re not going to appear at your doorstep, it’s alright._

Tony stopped just in front of a glass door. Pepper was there, more for moral support than anything else. She was sitting with five S.H.I.E.L.D agents, there were no UN officials but there was a camera seat up at the end of the table.

“Do you still want to go in?” Happy asked and Tony was really considering not, but as he took a step back, Pepper looked up and smiled.

Tony nodded to Happy.

“Tony,” Pepper said with a grin, “We were just about to get started.”

“I hope you weren’t planning on starting without me?” Tony scolded Pepper but sat at the head of the table. The agents chuckled.

When someone spoke up again, it was the redheaded gentleman on Pepper’s left.

“As you very well now, Mr Stark, the representers for each country have returned home. However, we’ve set up this camera so that everyone can tune in. Sound good?”

“Sounds like a plan, buddy-o.”

“Let’s get started then.”

Everyone, expect Tony, pulled out a folder and flipped through a couple pages. Pepper slid the folder in front of him and pointed to the first paragraph, “Read here.”

Tony began reading as he listened to what the agents said. There was a lot of talk about what they did wrong, whether everything’s been cleaned up, ways to prevent what happened, and pardons.

Tony will admit, he had been juggling with the idea.

The few weeks after Siberia, Tony was angry. But those weeks passed and he ended up just feeling nothing but betrayal. He wasn’t upset and he didn’t want revenge. He just wanted Steve to tell him sorry. Not the half-assed apology that he wrote in the letter. An actual, face to face, _‘I’m sorry I fucked up’_ apology. Tony knew he probably wouldn’t get it.

_‘He’s my friend.’_

James Buchanan Barnes.

Tony didn’t blame him for his parents death. He never really did. At the time, Tony wanted someone to blame and Barnes was right there. So, Tony lashed out. Weeks after though, when Tony could think properly, he realised it wasn’t Barnes’ fault.

“Tony?” Pepper tapped him on his shoulder, “Are you listening?”

“Sorry, dazed out for a moment. What were you saying?”

“We were talking about James Barnes.” The girl had long brown hair and it was in two braids down her back. There was a time Tony would have taken her home.

“More specifically, he is still considered a threat in multiple countries. If we’re to move forward with the pardons—”

“Wait, hold up.” Tony exclaimed, “We’re moving forward with the pardons?”

“As soon as we can guarantee the rogue Avengers are no longer a threat, then yes.”

“They’ll have to sign the accords?” Tony objected. He had said he was at peace with Rogers and Barnes and the others but it didn’t mean he wanted to see them anytime soon.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to make them see reason.”

“Me?”

“Yes, Mr Stark. Or can you not do that?”

Tony was about to object because damn right he couldn’t do that.

“Tony,” Pepper whispered in his ear, “If a new threat arises, they need to be pardoned.”

Fuck. Shit. Fuck him sideways and call him a whore, why was it always him?

“Okay.” Tony bit out. His hands were clenched at his side and he wanted to feel them break the skin. Was that bad?

“Very good. Now, the problem around James Barnes is the Winter Soldier.”

_‘He’s my friend.’_

“I understand.”

“King T’Challa has told us that Barnes is currently being treated in Wakanda. According to the King, they began treatment for Barnes about five months ago. With the technology they have over there, it will take less than a month for treatments to be completely finished. By that time, you, Mr Stark, will have hopefully convinced the other Avengers to agree with the Accords and then we can move forward with Barnes’ pardon. Are we all in agreement?”

The other S.H.I.E.L.D agents murmured in agreement, a ping came from the iPad and the brunette agent moved to look at it.

“We have agreement from more than half of the countries. Mr Stark, do you agree?”

There was a pause. Tony inaudibly sighed.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

The redheaded agent clapped his hands together. “That settles it then. We’ll draw up the documents and give you a ring when they’re finished. However, I strongly urge you to settle the feud with the other Avengers, we need them.”

_‘Tony Stark: not recommended.’_

The agents said goodbye, packed up the camera and files, and left. The three of them remained.

“Tony, are you okay with this?”

No.

“Of course. Avengers Assemble and all that shit, right?” He laughed and stood up. “Happy, can you take me back to the compound?”

“Yes, sir.”

Pepper stopped him with a hand and pulled him into a hug. She didn’t say anything but she didn’t have to.

Happy and Tony left.

The drive back was much quicker.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has an interesting confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wassup?!  
> here is the second chapter of Winter's Bite!  
> Just a warning, this fic is going to be pretty slow. I didn't really want to jump straight into the winteriron, but I promise, there will be lots to come.  
> Lemme know if you like it and also lemme know any mistakes I've made!  
> I literally never edit my chapters so... :/  
> Next chapter will be published by the end of the week.

Tony was in the lab. There was a steaming cup of coffee sitting on his workbench and a half-eaten chocolate bar. Tony was playing with some new technology, Shuri had been helping him out when he was stuck—which was more often then he wanted to admit. In fact, he had just finished a conversation with her, his right leg of armour lay completed on then workspace in front of him and he could feel the pride bubble in his chest.

He was trying to create a suit with nanotech, similar to the Black Panther suit, but more, _ Tony _ . 

Here, sitting on his workbench, was proof of his achievement, the sad thing was, he only had his robots to celebrate with him. Which wasn’t too bad because U and Dum-E were chirping in what Tony assumed was excitement. Tony himself, was beaming with happiness.

And, it was ruined not a second later.

“Sir?” FRIDAY’s voice rang through the lab, Tony kept working on his nanotech, “Agent Verlac is here to see you.”

“The brunette from the conference?” Tony asked, making sure his assumption was correct.

“That is right.”

“Send her in,” Tony replied and made a gesture, knowing FRIDAY would pick up on his meaning, and she did. Seven minutes and forty-eight seconds later, Agent Verlac strutted into the lab. Tony glanced her way once, gave her a small smile, and started back on his suit, he had a couple pieces to fix on his boot but then it was good to go. That would bring his checklist down to ten pieces of armour left to fix, plus a very interesting and new arc reactor, much to Pepper’s dismay.

Agent Verlac cleared her throat. She had a pile of files in her hands and Tony just knew that they were for him.

“Mr Stark, how are you?” The Agent asked politely, to any regular person she would look calm and confident, but Tony noticed the small glances to her side and the shifting of weight.

“Just working, Agent, I’m sure you are too?” Tony asked, his eyes still on his boot.

“When am I not,” She joked and Tony politely laughed, “That is the reason I’m here, actually.”

“Oh?” He asked, feigning confusion. He knew why the Agent was here, to talk about the pardons.

She proved Tony correct when she began with, “It’s about the Rogue Avengers.”

“Is it?”

“Yes,” Agent Verlac said, “We have finalised the pardons and contracts and passports for them. Have you asked Mr Rogers about returning to the states?”

“Not yet,” Tony replied, his hands moved across the boot, looking for any areas in need of fixing.

“When are you planning on it?” Agent Verlac laid a hand on the table as she asked Tony. He could hear the impatience in her voice, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. “We need to know whether Mr Rogers and his team are willing.”

Tony’s hand slid over a bump in his boot. He flipped it around to the other side and inspected the problem, it was something to do with the nanotech not forming correctly, he’d have to ask Shuri about it.

“Mr Stark?” Tony looked up at the Agent to see her narrowed eyes staring down at him, they softened when she made contact.

“Would you be able to talk to Steve?” Her voice was calm as she asked him and she chose to ditch the ‘Mr Rogers’.

“Sure…” Tony replied, “I’ll talk to him.”

“Thank you, Tony.” She rested her hand on his arm but pulled away not a second later, “Call me when you have an answer.”

Tony nodded and watched as she left his lab, her hands a lot emptier then when she arrived. Tony moved the boot away from him and put the Agent Verlac’s files in front of him, the title was bolded and took up half the page.

_ ‘CLASSIFIED: ROGUE AVENGERS’ _

Huh.

He flipped through the pages and quickly skim read each overview.

_ ‘Captain America | Steve Rogers ’ _

His file was full of descriptions involving his appearance, skills, and then there was the descriptions of his life before going under the ice.

Tony flipped the page.

_ ‘Battles’ _

There was a list of battles Steve had been involved in, Tony read the headlines of each fight.

_ ‘Liberation of Allied Prisoners of War, 1943.’ _

_ ‘Capture of Arnim Zola, 1945.’ _

_ ‘Attack on HYDRA Headquarters, 1945.’ _

_ ‘Battle in the Valkyrie, 1945.’ _

_ ‘Skirmish in Germany, 2012.’ _

_ ‘Attack on the Helicarrier.’ _

_ ‘Battle of New York, 2012.’ _

_ ‘Hijacking and Retacking of the Lemurian Star, 2014.’ _

_ ‘Battle of Washington, D.C, 2014.’ _

_ ‘Battle at the Triskelion, 2014.’ _

_ ‘Attack on the HYDRA Research Base, 2015.’ _

_ ‘Attack on Avengers Tower, 2015.’ _

_ ‘Battle at the Salvage Yard, 2015.’ _

_ ‘Battle of Seoul, 2015.’ _

_ ‘Battle of Sokovia, 2015.’ _

_ ‘Attack on the IFID Headquarters, 2016.’ _

_ ‘Capture of Winter Soldier, 2016.’ _

_ ‘Escape from the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre, 2016.’ _

_ ‘Clash of the Avengers/Avengers Civil War, 2016.’ _

The last battle drew Tony’s attention.

_ ‘Battle at the HYDRA Siberian Facility, 2016.’ _

Tony read the notes.

_ ‘Iron Man confronts Captain America and the Winter Soldier. The reason is unknown. _

_ Iron Man is taken down. _

_ Captain America and the Winter Soldier escape.’ _

Tony felt very let down by the lack of notes but he supposed no one had been very clear about the fight. Tony sure as hell wasn’t telling anyone the truth and he doubted Rogers would publicly announce the reason either.

He flipped over the page.

_ ‘James Buchanan Barnes/Winter Soldier’ _

There were two sections of the file, James Barnes and the Winter Soldier. Tony skimmed over James’ section but went right to Winter Soldier’s.

‘The first subject of the Winter Soldier Program. James Buchanan Barnes was experimented on by Arnim Zola. Not much information is known about the specifics of the program, except that if the subject is continually experimented on, they lose memories of the past. 

The Winter Soldier was used by HYDRA to eliminate threats. It is predicted that after each assassination, HYDRA cleansed the subjects mind to keep him emotionless.

The Winter Soldier is responsible for the attack on Director Nick Fury’s life, the attack on the Triskelion, and was previously thought to be responsible for the attack on IFID Headquarters.

The Winter Soldier is currently with Captain America.’

Tony flipped through the pages again, there was a file on Natalia Alianovna Romanoff, Samuel Thomas Wilson, Clinton Francis Barton, and Scott Edward Harris Lang.

He skim read every file, paying close attention to the battles each of them were involved in. All [reliable] information ended after the ‘Avengers Civil War’.

He sighed and set the files down and leaned back in his chair. His mind was racing with thoughts but Tony couldn’t hear a single one.

Had Steve told his team what happened in Siberia? Tony assumed he hadn’t. Barnes knew, and Natasha probably knew as well. That girl definitely lived up to her name, she was undetectable until she struck.

Maybe Sam knew? He and Cap had grown really close since they met, Tony knew that Steve trusted him with most things, but a secret as big as his parents death?

And Wanda. Tony knew the witch wouldn’t have been told. Steve knew Tony never trusted her and even if they weren’t friends, he wouldn’t stoop that low.

Right?

“Boss?” FRIDAY’s voice echoed around the lab, “Agent Verlac has sent through a message.”

“Lemme guess, she’s reminding me to call Steve?” Tony asked, still leaning back in his chair. 

FRIDAY hesitated, “...Yes.”

“Tell her I’m doing it right now,” Tony answered and walked over to grab his tablet. 

“Done, would you also like me to call King T’Challa?”

“Yes please, FRIDAY.” Tony picked up his tablet and watched as the King’s icon wiggled in time with the Pink Panther theme song.

T’Challa picked up after the second time through.

“Mr Stark, how are you?” He asked with that beautiful accent of his. Tony shook his head.

“Your majesty, I’m good.” He sat back down in his chair, “How about you?”

“Very well, thank you. Any particular reason for this call?”

“There is, actually. I need to know whether Rogers is still in Wakanda?”

If T’Challa was surprised that Tony knew, he didn’t show it.

“Very are.” The King replied after a moment of silence. From what Tony could see, he was sitting in his throne room. Tony thought the throne looked extremely uncomfortable. If you were a King, couldn’t you afford to have a chair that was actually squishy instead of metal?

“And Barnes, how are the treatments going?” Tony asked. Agent Verlac had specifically told him to guarantee that the Winter Soldier was taken care of.

“He’s coming along well. I’ve been told he has less than a month left.” T’challa was very kind in answering his questions, but Tony could tell he wanted to know the real reason for Tony’s call.

“Good, good,” Tony said, taking a deep breath. “ Would you be able to put Rogers on the line?”

“Are you sure?”

Did the King know what happened? He would have to, T’Challa knows that Tony wouldn’t attack without a reason. Maybe a few years ago, but he had been in so many battles that started because of ignorance, and yes, he was still guilty, he was only one man.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure. Put him through,” Tony said with a heavy voice. Let’s get this over with.

T’Challa nodded and turned his gaze down, obviously looking for the button to put Tony through to Rogers. When he found it, the screen went to the Wakandan flag. He blocked his mind from thinking about anything except how nice thing flags colours looked.

“Tony?” The Captain’s voice was soft, hardly audible through the video, but Tony could still tell it was him. Even after all these months, he knew his voice off by heart.

His eyes closed.

“I wasn’t expecting a call from you,” Steve said, Tony looked at him. “Is everything okay?”

If Tony didn’t know any better, he’d think Rogers was worried about him.

“Rogers, everything’s fine. I need to talk business with you, that’s all,” Tony replied in a strictly professional voice.

“Oh.” Steve shifted in his seat, “What can I help you with then?”

“The government want to pardon you and your team.”

“Oh?”

“There are conditions, however,” Tony replied, “That you will need to sign off on to be granted permission.”

“What conditions?” Steve asked. Tony hesitated, he could see a five o’clock shadow on the super soldier’s face. It suited him.

“The team will need to sign off on new Accords as well as a set of laws they will have to abide by. Nothing big,” Tony answered and with every word he said, he could see Steve slowly beginning to frown.

“Tony…”

“I’ll send the Accords and Laws through.” Tony cut him off before he could continue his sentence. “Read them, Captain. No one’s trying to stop you from being a hero, but there are rules, even for super soldiers. Don’t make the same mistakes.”

He gave Steve a nod and ended the call. 

His breathing was shallow, but he was able to calm it down.

“FRIDAY, what appointments do I have this afternoon?” Tony called out to his AI, hoping that he could remain in his lab.

“None, sir.”

“Fantastic.”

Tony grabbed his boot and examined the bump. He might even be able to finish the suit sooner than he thought.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything's fine. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo yo yo!  
> I honestly love writing this fic, lemme know if you like reading it.  
> Also, TRIGGER WARNING but there is a reference to sexual assault if that in anyway makes you uncomfortable, please skip over it.  
> I've decided Peter is going to be trans in this fic so if ya'll don't like that, too bad hahaha

**CHAPTER THREE**

Tony tried his best to focus on his suit but Peter’s constant tapping was beginning to irritate him. He closed his eyes and counted to five.

“Holy FUCK!”

Peter was crouched down in front of him, staring at his face with wide eyes. Any other time, he would have reminded Tony of a little puppy, but opening your eyes and seeing someone’s face right there was not at all cute.

“Oh sorry,” He apologized and took a step back, “Wasn’t sure if you were alright.”

Tony exhaled, “Yeah, yeah, I’m alright kid.” And then added, “Sorry for swearing so loud.”

Peter shrugged but didn’t move back to his spot.

“Did you need anything?” Tony asked slowly, one hand resting on his helmet and the other gripped around a screwdriver.

“I have a parent-teacher interview coming up.” Peter paused, looking at his sneakers.

Tony hummed.

“And Aunt May can’t make it.”

Oh.

OH.

Peter scratched the back of his neck, “So, I was just wondering.”

Tony stayed quiet. He knew that him and the kid had become closer over the year but this was a lot and right now he couldn’t think of anything.

When Tony didn’t answer, Peter began to fidget with the pencil in his hands. “You know what, it’s dumb. Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’re super busy and it’s not even that important. I can’t—”

“I’ll go.”

Peter’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, “Wha—What?”

“I’ll go to this parent-teacher interview thing. Do you know what they’ll talk about?” Tony asked, his mouth working quicker than his mind, at the moment. His thoughts were racing with ideas and assumptions, this wasn’t his son and Tony wasn’t his dad. He needed to calm down.

“Um…” Peter eyes were wider than saucers but he managed to calmly answer, “Probably talk about my attendance and grades and maybe my assignments? I’m not completely sure.”

“Alright, kiddo, what day?”

“Next Tuesday but I think you have to book a time.”

“FRIDAY?” Tony called, setting down the screwdriver and swiveling around in his chair.

“Yes, boss?” She responded not a moment later. Tony felt a surge of pride at his AI.

“Can you book a meeting with Peter’s teachers?”

She went quiet before replying, “Done.”

Tony grabbed his Stark Pad from his side table, “Thanks FRI.”

Peter moved from where he was still standing, and sat book down on Tony’s workbench. A month ago, he would frowned at the action but Tony had made sure to clear a space whenever Peter came to the lab.

“How’s school going?” Tony asked when he had readjusted himself in his chair.

“Good. I’ve got this geography assignment due on Friday,” Peter said, tapping his pencil on the workbench. Tony ignored the sound.

“Have you finished it?” Tony asked and was reminded of the days in college where he would hand his assignments in last minute. Sleepless nights, more than the suggested amount of caffeine, chinese take-out, and his honeybear lecturing him about going to sleep.

“...Mostly?”

Tony narrowed his eyes at him but broke into a smile.

“Make sure you get it done.”

“I will, Mr Stark,” Peter laughed.

“You can call me Tony,” He said and purposely made eye contact with the kid. He knew he was intimidating, but being called Mr Stark made him feel old.

Peter didn’t answer but he did begin talking about the movie he and Ned watched yesterday afternoon, and when he was finished talking about that, he talked about the cafe Ned, Michelle, and he visited four days ago. Then he started discussing the Acid-Base Concept that he read about in his dad’s old notebooks. Then it was May and what tv shows they were watching, whether the Mayor would be re elected, and about Stark Industries—which Tony found boring but answered Peter’s questions anyways.

“Guess what!” Peter stopped his tapping and shouted.

“What?” Tony asked, he was examining the helmet to design later with nanotechnology, he just needed to make sure he got the diagrams correct.

“I took down a man yesterday.” Peter said simply but Tony noticed the way his eyes tightened around the edges.

“Oh? What for?”

Peter bit his cheek but answered sharply, “He was sexually assaulting a woman.”

Oh.” Tony stopped focusing on his helmet and turned his attention to Peter. The kid was holding the bench tightly.

“Who does that? It’s not right! Women face so much scrutiny in this world and there’s no reason for it.” Peter’s face flushed with each word he said and Tony wanted to reach out and calm him down.

“I know kid,” Tony replied. He understood how the kid felt, he had watched countless times as women like Pepper, Maria Hill, Natasha, and so many more were shoved aside because they were women. It had taken Tony a while, himself, to realise the everyday sexism around him, and he was guilty. In no way, did he have a clean slate but he was trying to fix it.

He understood the kid though.

“You did good.”

“I just wish I could do more. Taking down one dude isn’t going to stop it all.”

“But for that one woman, it made a difference,” Tony was quick to reply. “You know Pep and I regularly attend the Women’s March, right?”

“I didn’t know that,” Peter said and then added, “Can I come?”

“Of course,” Tony said with a smile. He walked over to Peter and gave him a small ruffle on his head, “Pepper would love to have you there, and hey? I could always design a pink suit for you.”

Peter blushed and giggled but replied with, “Can you?”

“I’ll get started on it.” Tony grinned, and then, on a more serious note, added, “Make sure you’re staying safe, yeah? You might be enhanced but you still bleed.”

“I know.”

“Promise you won’t do anything reckless?”

Peter hesitated, “I promise.”

“Good.”

And then before Tony forgot, “Do you need a new binder?”

Peter shifted around, his hand feeling his chest momentarily. 

“Nah, this one is pretty good.”

“Okay.” Tony agreed, “You know you’re only supposed to wear it for six to eight hours right?”

Peter gave him a ‘duh’ face and he held up his hands innocently.

“If you ever want to, you know?” Tony asked, “Just tell me. I’m happy to pay for it.”

Peter nodded his head shyly and watched his feet swing, knowing that he was beginning to feel uncomfortable, Tony let the offer hang in the air and returned to his helmet.

Peter returned to his homework.

They stayed in the lab for a solid two hours before Peter’s phone began to ring.

“Ned?” He asked after picking up, “Yeah? Oh, was that today? I was just hanging out with Mr St—” And Tony’s narrow eyes, he corrected it, “—Tony. No, I’m sure he doesn’t mind. I’ll be right there. Okay, okay, later homie.”

“Forget about something?” Tony asked.

“Yeah…” Peter replied sheepishly and jumped off the workbench. He began stuffing his books in his bag and Tony watched him.

“Need a ride?”

“Um, yes please,” He laughed, pulling his bag straps onto his shoulders.

“FRIDAY?”

“Already done, sir.”

Tony smiled and gestured to the door. Peter hesitated, looking between the exit and Tony, back and forth three times.

“Thank you, Tony.” Peter said and hugged Tony, who relaxed into it.

“It’s okay, kid. It’s okay.”

Peter left and Tony sat on his seat but goddamnit, he was hungry.

“FRIDAY, is anyone in the kitchen?” He really didn’t feel like talking.

“No, boss.”

Tony went to the kitchen.

It was still full of dishes and other dirty objects.

Frowning, he opened the fridge door to find virtually nothing in the shelves.

He threw together what he could—which happened to be a ham and cheese sandwich—and took it into the living room with him. The sofas had recently been replaced by grey cushioned ones, and they seemed to swallow Tony up as he made himself comfortable.

“FRIDAY? Can you put some cartoons on?”

The wall in front of him dipped down as the television poked out.

“What do you feel like?” FRIDAY asked in her Irish accented voice. Tony grinned.

“Something classic.”

“Are you sure you trust me, boss?” She was joking around with him and so Tony exaggerated his gasp.

“Trust you? Am I sure? I am offended you would ask such a question!”

FRIDAY chuckled and the tv turned on. Flashes of colour popped out to Tony and he settled down to watch.

And he did, for about forty-five minutes, and then his eyes began to droop slightly but he fought it, for a good ten minutes.

Soon, it was just the sounds of the old cartoon and Tony’s quiet snoring that could be heard.

FRIDAY decided to leave the cartoon on for white noise, but she did turn it down.

*****

The blanket draped over him was blue and pink and purple and fluffy. His eyes were groggy but he felt more rested then he had a few days ago.

“FRIDAY, who’s here?”

“Just Vision, boss.” She replied and he nodded. Just a minute.

Tony eventually pulled himself off the couch but kept the blanket wrapped around his shoulders and walked into the kitchen. The mess was still there.

His chest tightened. Something about the mess was just overwhelming.

“FRIDAY, play the playlist.”

“THE playlist, boss?”

Tony nodded and waited until he heard the first chord of Loner blast through the compound.

He started on the dishes, rinsed off what he could and then placed them in the dishwasher. It took three loads to rid the kitchen of all dirty dishes. He sorted them out into drawers and cabinets—and climbed onto the bench for the ones up high. When he was done, everything was neat and tidy.

He swept, mopped, wiped the benches, and emptied the fridge. Then he made a list of everything they would need in both the fridge and the pantry. He sent the list to FRIDAY.

Tony meant to stop after cleaning the kitchen, honestly, but the more things he cleaned and excited he got from the music, the more he cleaned. 

He moved through the living room, dining room, and conference room. He avoided everyone’s bedroom but did clean his own. He went to the gym and tidied all the equipment and did the same with his lab.

Nearly two hours later, he collapsed onto the couch again.

He slept for another hour.

“Boss?” FRIDAY’s voice was soft but loud enough to wake Tony up from his sleep.

He hummed in response.

“Steve Rogers is on the line, would you like me to put him through?”

Tony sat up, somewhat slowly and looked around for his Stark Pad. It was on the armchair.

“Patch him through, FRIDAY.”

“Yes sir.”

The Stark Pad popped up with the Wakanda flag and Tony answered.

“Tony,” Steve greeted.

“Rogers,” Tony said back, his eyes were half closed and if there was an coldness to his voice, he felt no guilt.

“I need to talk to you,” Steve said, from his end, it was still sunny.

“Uh huh,” He was tempted to respond with sarcasm but he was so tired that he could only manage one worded answers.

“It’s about the Accords.”

Tony hummed.

“I went through them with the team.”

Tony nodded.

“We’ll sign them, Tony, we’re all going to sign them.”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything's fine, but oh, Rogers is back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, this is late!!! I should really set a date to stick to.   
> I had a small writer's block, still kinda do.  
> It's a bit short but I hope you enjoy.

**Chapter Four**

“Mister Stark, do you agree with the Captain America’s team returning?”

No, he didn’t really want them to return.

He looked down at his flashcards. A couple years ago he had been given almost identical flashcards, a couple years ago he first became Iron Man.

“Yes, I’m eager to reunite the Avengers. As I am sure many others are, too.” Tony answered the journalists question just the way S.H.I.E.L.D wanted him to.

“Mister Stark?” A brown-haired man raised his hand and continued at Tony’s nod, “What exactly happened during the Civil War?”

Subtly, he flipped over the card and read off the one below, “Myself and the Captain had a disagreement surrounding the Accords, however, there have been changes made to suit boths the needs of the world and the Avengers.”

There was the scratching of pens and then a sea of hands.

Tony picked the girl with two ponytails, just like he was supposed to.

“Is it true that the rogue Avengers have been sheltering in Wakanda?”

Next card.

“The Captain’s team have been given shelter, however not from Wakanda.”

That card was Tony’s doing. While S.H.I.E.L.D would have rathered outed Wakanda, Tony wished to keep T’Challa’s name out of it, with his permission, of course.

“One of the rules for Cap’s team is a superhero training course, is this true?”

“It is.”

“What was the reasoning behind this?”

Tony glanced at his flashcard for an answer, there was none. Why was there no answer?

He looked over to the sides, to Pepper and Rhodey and Agent Verlac but they all shrugged and gave him no indication of what to say.

Tony had to improvise.

At least he was good at it.

“Steve Roger’s made a mistake, as I have, many times before. Often, our eyes are too big for our stomachs in the sense that, Steve didn’t realise the effects his goal would have. The training course is for new recruits to teach them to understand the laws and consequences. Roger’s and his team have agreed to this.”

Not very willingly, Tony wanted to add, but that was not for the public to know.

The conference room went silent except for the furious scribbles of pen to paper, but nobody raised their hands when it stopped.

Tony looked at his watch and then to Pepper, who shook her head and showed him one finger. He nodded in understanding. One last question.  _ Make it count, Stark _ .

“Does anyone have a final question?” He asked and glanced around. Three hands rose. A blonde girl with the longest winged eyeliner Tony had ever seen. A man with a thick beard that put Thor’s beard to massive shame. The third, was a man in large stilettos heels, Tony gave him brownie points for the courage.

“What’s your name?” He asked, making direct eye contact with the man and leaning forward on his arms.

“Me?” He pointed to himself and Tony nodded. “Oyibo, sir.”

Tony noticed just how thick his accent was.

“Oyibo,” Making sure he didn’t mess up the name, that’d be pretty fucking rude of him, “What’s your question?”

“According to articles, the ‘Civil War’,” Oyibo made bunny ears around the name, Tony liked him immensely, “Was fought in a German airport, but later, Helmut Zemo was arrested in Siberia. He claims that there was a fight within an abandoned HYDRA facility, is this true?”

Okay, maybe he spoke too soon. Oyibo hitting very close to home and with each step he took, Tony felt his whole body tense. He didn’t know what to say. His mind was on adderall but his jaw had clamped shut.

“Uh…” Tony pulled up blank.

There was an intake of breath from the journalists.

Pepper and Rhodey were on the side looking helpless, they couldn’t rush up and help him. 

Tony was holding onto the side of his stand until his knuckles turned white.

The clock ticked.

_ ‘He’s my friend.’ _

“Yes,” Tony blurted out before he could stop himself and when he realised what he said, it was too late to take them back, but he tried. “No! I mean, we had a disagreement but—” He looked at Pepper, she shook her head. “—Uh…”

Breathe, just breathe.

_ ‘You’re smart, Tony, use that brain of yours,’ Jarvis gave him a friendly knock on the head but said nothing more. Tony scowled at him but focused on the mechanical parts in front of him. He had to solve the final maths question and then Jarvis said he can go and play outside. Find x. “Don’t overthink it.” _

“Rogers and I had a disagreement in Siberia but there’s no bad blood between us. We’re teammates first, and competitors last. We both know there’s a bigger picture than a minor disagreement and that’s why they have been pardoned. When the Avengers first assembled, our goal, our job was to protect New York, but now we’re protecting the whole world and we take that very seriously. I want to wipe any doubt from anyone’s mind and where the team alliances lie, they have always been with the people.”

Half of what Tony said was the truth, half of it was a lie, but the journalists ate it up as they began quickly writing down his words. Even Pepper and Rhodey were half convinced, Rhodey less so then Pepper.

Conceal don’t feel, don’t let them know.

Pepper walked up to him and gave him a little nudge to let him know it’s, and then into the microphone she announced, “That’s all the questions Mister Stark can answer. Thank you all for coming out this afternoon.”

The journalists continued to shout questions but Pepper led him away with a firm hand on his back, Rhodey and Agent Verlac were waiting for him outside.

“That was…” The agent struggled to find the words, “Very well handled, well done.”

It was a lie, he wanted to say.

“Thanks, Agent,” Is what he said.

“We’ll let you know when everything is finalised.”

Agent Verlac turned on her heels and left. She was wearing her hair in cornrows today, Tony couldn’t help thinking it was a little cultural appropriation

“Can we get a burger?”

Pepper gave him a glance and Rhodey snorted.

“I feel like a burger. We can go to burger king? Or the diner on Bradford Avenue?” Tony suggested, he jumped into the car and greeted Happy, “How ya going, buddy?”

“Fine and you?” He replied, his hands were on the steering wheel but he gave Tony a glance back just in time to see him do the thumbs up.

“The Golden Spoon?” Pepper asked, she hated the name although had to admit, the food was more than decent.

“Yeah! You know what, let’s go there. Happy, golden spoons?”

“Happy, we’re not going to the diner.”

“Pep! You’re being unfair. Honey-bear,” Tony turned to Rhodey who was sitting beside him, “Don’t you feel like a juicy, medium rare, rump steak?”

Rhodey rolled his eyes but did say, “Pepper, we can afford a stop.”

“Fine!” She threw up her hands, “We’ll go to the Golden Spoons.” She emphasised the diners name.

Tony leaned back and grinned. Even though she was irritated, Tony could see the fond look on her face. And even though they had decided it was best to remain colleagues, Tony didn’t love her any less and he hoped she felt the same.

It was half an hour drive to the diner and another ten minutes for them all to get settled and begin looking at the menu. Tony knew what he wanted straight away. He wanted the Chipotle Burger with a black & white shake. He’d been eyeing the burger for a few months now but had never gotten the time to try it, today was the day.

The waitress came over for the third time, Tony ordered his food and then turned to his friends.

“Guys,” He said and shoulder bumped Happy, who sighed and ordered the Reuben and coffee to go with.

Pep settled for the Classic Eggs Benedict and Chamomile tea, which she only had to calm down and Tony found it odd that she would have it now.

Rhodey got his Prime New York Strip Steak and fresh orange juice.

The waitress took their menus and left.

“Good job in the conference, Tony.” Rhodey said, leaning on the table slightly.

“Thanks, Rhodey.”

Rhodey then turned to Happy and they began talking about the latest developments in the military, what’s happening around the world, and of course, their Downton Abbey theories.

Pepper, in the meantime, turned to Tony and gave him the look.

“Don’t.”

“Tony,” Pepper began and he was so close to cutting her off. “I know there’s more to what happened in Siberia—” She held up hand to stop him, “And you don’t have to tell me what really happened, but I want to make sure you’re okay with Rogers returning?”

“Yes, Pep,” Tony lied through his teeth, “I’m fine with them coming home, honest. I just want to move past it all.”

She sat back with an unimpressed look and Tony knew she wasn’t completely sold but all he needed was for her to back off, and she did. 

Tony finished his meal in silence.

“Thanks for the lunch, Judy!” Tony called over his shoulder, a takeaway coffee in his right hand and his Stark Pad in his left. She yelled back ‘your welcome’. 

As all four of them exited the diner, the bell chimed quietly and Tony left with a warm feeling in his stomach. He took a sip of his coffee and listened to Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey talk together, sometimes he would offer his opinion but he mainly stayed quiet for the walk home.

“Look at the sunset” Pepper exclaimed and pointed at the sky. Rhodey stopped talking mid-sentence and stared up at the red and orange sky that slowly ate up the blue. Happy blinked slowly as a soft small spread across his face.

The Stark Pad dinged.

“Hold up,” Tony said and stopped walking, the others stopped a few steps in front. “Lemme check this.”

He flicked up and swiped across to see a notification pop up on his News app. He tapped the up and went to ‘Recent Articles’.

He was curious. Normally, he only got notifications about new articles if it mentioned him but Tony was positive Pepper hadn’t told him about an articles that talked about him.

His eyes skimmed the title.

It was hard to tell when exactly his coffee slipped from his hand but it must have been sometime between reading the title and the first line of the article.

“Tony!” Pepper yelled, her hand flying to her mouth. Happy rushed forward to grip the shaking billionaire. Rhodey took Tony’s face between his hands and asked, “What is it?”

He didn’t say anything, just passed the Pad to Rhodey, whose eyes widened.

_ ‘Rogers and Co. arrive in New York City an hour after being granted pardons.’ _


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony feels like a prisoner in his own home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooooo!  
> chapter five, duh, duh, duh  
> I'll be (trying to) post on Thursdays (ACT time zones)!  
> anyway, enjoy the chapter and let me know if you like it

**CHAPTER FIVE**

“Why the fuck are they back?!”

Tony leaned back in the sofa, Pepper sat beside him and rested her hand on his leg. Rhodey was shouting at the agent's aggressively, standing in front of them.

“Colonel Rhodes, this is what we agreed to.” Agent Finley answered, he tucked a blond hair behind his ear. Rhodey glared at him.

“We agreed that they would be pardoned, not that they would be on the first flight from fuck knows where!”

Tony felt Pepper’s hand tighten on his leg. Tony brought his hand up and laid his hand between his thumb and index finger, he breathed out through his nose.

“Colonel,” Agent Verlac warned, “It was decided by the council that the Avengers should be reunited as soon as possible.”

“I was on the idea that as soon as possible was going to be six months away.” Rhodey glanced between the three agents and was pleased that they looked unnerved by him, as they should.

“No, Colonel.”

“Where are they staying?”

“The compound, sir.” Agent Verlac rubbed her forearm as she said that. Tony could feel Rhodey’s anger skyrocket.

“We can arrange that,” Tony whispered before Rhodey could say whatever insult he was planning.

“Thank you, Mr Stark.”

Rhodey spun around and stared at him, he just shrugged.

“They’ll be there by eighteen hundred, sir,” The third agent answered, Agent Leibniz, if Tony was correct.

“They won’t be doing any missions until they complete the new recruit program,” Rhodey demanded, his eyes on Tony, back to the agents.

Tony watched as the blond, Agent Finley, began to protest but was stopped by Verlac. Tony made eye contact with her, and she nodded.

“Of course.”

“And they are not to do any conferences until Miss Potts or myself say otherwise,” Rhodey added, this time he did turn around and looked at the agents.

“Whatever you say, Colonel.”

“Good, we’re done here.”

The three agents left without saying goodbye, Tony didn’t really care.

“This isn’t okay,” Pepper complained, shifting her hand from Tony’s leg to grab her tea and take a sip.

“It doesn’t matter what’s fair, they’re here and we have to deal with it,” Tony answered her, he just wanted to sleep. Maybe for a couple years.

“ _ Tony _ …” Rhodey was going to blurt something out and Tony couldn’t have that.

“Rhodey, no. It’s fine, we’ll deal with it.”

Rhodey huffed but avoided the topic and instead changed it to something worse. “What are we doing with the Winter Soldier?”

Pepper tightened beside him, she had heard of him and definitely knew about what happened in Washington. She also knew she didn’t want anything to do with the soldier.

“T’Challa says they desensitized him to HYDRA’s control.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Rhodey replied, shaking his head. Tony studied the man in front of him. He only wanted what was best of him, Tony knew that but sometimes he made Tony’s nerves spike.

“We’ll deal with that if we get to it,” Tony responded but wanted to change the  _ if _ to  _ when _ , because there was no doubt they would come across that problem. 

Rhodey crossed his arm but sat down on the couch across from Tony and Pepper. Happy had left to sort out Rogers and the team, after driving them all back to the compound of course.

Tony wanted nothing more than to get his hands busy.

“I’m going,” Tony said, “To the lab.”

No one stopped him from leaving.

*****

“Boss?” FRIDAY called and Tony nodded, his mouth stuffed with a hlf-clean rag. “They’re here.”

Tony’s legs went weak and he had to sit on his stool.

“Thank you, FRI.” Tony pulled the rag from his chest and dropped it on his workbench, he held his head up in his hand and focused on the prototype for Rhodey’s new leg braces. Just don’t think about it, Tony.

The braces were good, in need of a few tweaking but for a few hours work, they were nearly perfect. He would have to make sure the measurements were correct but he was 98% sure they were, he knew his honeybear. The colour would have to be fixed, right now it was an ugly brown colour.

There was a ding.

“Boss, King T’Challa is calling.”

“Patch him through,” Tony answered her and swiveled on his chair to face the video call.

T’Challa appeared on the other side in a dark green robe.

“Mr Stark,” T’Challa said, “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Tony answer simply, he hoped his irritation wasn’t too obvious.

“My sister has been wondering whether you’ve finished the suit yet?”

“Just gotta get the measurements right.”

“I’ll let her know,” T’Challa said. Tony stared at him and chose his next words carefully. They may be friends but he was still a King.

“Did you know?” He asked, leaning forward in his chair slightly. 

“Know what?” T’Challa replied, his smile dropping a fraction. Tony wasn’t the best at reading people’s behaviour but he knew T’Challa was playing dumb. That, and the fact that T’Challa was the King of Wakanda and definitely knew about what happened in his country.

“About Rogers and Barnes and all the others? Did you know that they left?”

“I did,” T’Challa answered and Tony kept his anger in check, it was not the King’s fault.

“Why didn’t you give me some warning? I had to find out through a news article!” He half-shouted the last sentence. T’Challa’s eye widened ever so slightly.

“I was told you knew.”

Tony hesitated, “No. I knew they were going to be pardoned, I didn’t know they were back in the States.”

“I apologize, Tony. I honestly thought you had been warned, I meant no offence.”

It was hard to stay angry at the King, especially when his accent dripped sexiness with every word. Tony was still upset that no one had warned him, though.

“It’s not your fault,” Tony sighed and rubbed his beard in is hands, “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“Never apologize for your emotions, Tony.”

He nodded but didn’t really pay attention to the advice.

T’Challa cleared his throat and Tony looked up. The King moved forward slightly and said, “Would you be interested in coming to Wakanda?”

Tony sat up straighter, “Yeah?”

“Yes, I am sure Shuri would love to show you around her lab and I can take you around the city.”

“Yes! I would love that very much, T’Challa.”

“It’s settled,” T’Challa said, “Let me know when you’re free and I will have you picked up.”

Tony broke into a smile and thanked the King. They talked a little more before ending the call, Tony’s stomach felt lighter than it had before.

“Tones?”

He looked up with a smile still on his face, which grew wider when he saw Rhodey.

“Honeybear! Come in!”

“What’s got you all cheerful?” Rhodey asked moving through the lab to get closer to Tony.

“T’Challa invited me to Wakanda,” He answered. Rhodey laughed at him and pulled him in for a hug, Tony gladly accepted the warmth of his arms.

“Am I invited?”

“You’re the only one I want to come with.” Tony leaned back in his seat and grinned. Rhodey leaned against his workbench, his hand an inch away from a pair of prototype leg braces.

“Everyone’s having dinner, did you wanna join?” Rhodey asked. Tony didn’t think he could face everyone.

“Nah. Nah, I’ll stay down here.” Tony gestured to the mess on his desk.

“Alright, I’ll bring some food down,” He said and then looked at the leg braces, “What are these?”

“New and improved leg braces.”

“Tones, you didn’t have to.”

“You’re my honeybear, my platypus, of course I had to,” Tony answered and watched as Rhodey stared at him with a smile.

“I love you, Tony,” Rhodey said.

“I love you too,” He replied and then just for fun, “Iron Patriot.”

“Don’t.” Rhodey backed away, “We agreed not to talk about that anymore.”

“Shoulda made me sign a contract,” Tony answered with no remorse.

Rhodey shook his head and left the lab. Tony turned back to work and made the leg braces navy, a nice classic navy.

He was so caught up in his work that Rhodey had to grab his hand and shove the plate of food into it.

It was pizza.

And it was really good.

“I’m leaving for a week to Britain.”

“What?” Tony asked with a mouth full of pizza. 

“You’ll be alright without me?” Rhodey said but it sounded more like a question. Tony rolled his eyes.

“I’ll be fine, I’ve got U and Dum-E…” He paused, “And FRIDAY.”

“Thanks Boss,” She said sarcastically and Tony chuckled.

“I know, I just worry.” Rhodey scratched his neck and shrugged at him.

“You don’t have to, I’ll be fine. I’m Iron Man,” Tony said and puffed up his chest in mock pride.

“Uh huh,” Rhodey answered.

“When are you leaving?”

“Now. I just got the call when I was in the kitchen.”

“Oh,” Tony said, he didn’t realise how soon it was.

“Yeah,” Rhodey said sheepishly.

“You better get going to Colonel, the country needs you.” Tony saluted him with a stern face, which earned him a slap from Rhodey.

“Whatever, I’ll see you next Tuesday.”

“Bye boo-bear.”

“Bye Tones.”

Rhodey walked out of the lab with a grin on his face, Tony watched him go.

Not a moment later, he was back to the leg braces.

*********

Tony sat back against his chairs. The braces were propped up in all their navy gloriousness.

“Whaddya think FRIDAY? Reckon he’ll like them?”

“Superb, sir. I’m sure Colonel Rhodes will love them,” She answered seriously. He wasn’t sure where she got her attitude from but he did not appreciate it.

“Yeah, yeah.” He took the prototype and placed them in a safe-ish spot. “Hey FRI?”

“Yes?”

“Is there anyone in the kitchen?” Tony asked, he was feeling peckish again.

“Nope, the kitchen is good to go.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at her choice of words but walked up to the kitchen.

If there was no pizza left, he was going to cry.

He opened the fridge door and skimmed over the shelves, no, no, no…

Yes!

Three slices of pizza were resting on the top shelf with a little note that simply said, _ ‘For Tony’ _ .

It was in Caps handwriting.

Tony slid the plate from the shelf and wandered over to a kitchen stool. He plopped himself on to the seat —having to jump slightly to reach it.

He was well into his second slice when FRIDAY alerted him to Sam and Clint getting closer to the kitchen. He contemplated running back to his lab but then thought better of that idea.

The conversation stopped dead when they entered the kitchen and saw Tony. He didn’t have to turn around to know that they were looking at him strangely.

“Hey, Ton,” Clint said, with an awkward hand wave. Sam looked at him but he just shrugged.

“Evening, Stark,” Sam finally said after two beats of silence. Tony decided then to turn around and face the pair, he waved.

“Sam, Clint, how are you?” Tony asked politely, he didn’t care that much.

“Good.”

“Tired.”

They answered at the same time. Guess who said tired?

Tony nodded at that and munched his way through the second slice and third slice.

The pair were whispering quietly and Sam gave Tony the occasional side eye, he couldn’t find it in himself to care as he rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher.

He walked over to the hallway, stopped, and considered just leaving without saying anything.

He wasn’t able to.

“Goodnight guys.”

Clint responded with a goodnight and Sam just nodded.

Tony went through the halls.

That was the first ‘conversation’ he had with either of them for well over six months, maybe even seven. Sam didn’t trust him, that was okay. The last thing he remembers is Tony asking where Rogers was before they all became criminals of the State. Clint did not trust him but he also wasn’t Tony’s friend. That hurt a bit. Mostly because Clint was there when the Avengers first became ‘The Avengers’ and he was there for Ultron, then suddenly he flipped around and decided Tony wasn’t worth fighting for?

He heard a hallway door close. Curiosity got the best of him and he glanced behind to see who it was.

He saw the brown hair before he saw the face, but he already knew who it was. They were unforgettable.

Tony stared at him, frozen. The last time they saw each other was in Siberia and that did not go very well.

He stared back at Tony and then slowly, very slowly lifted a hand and waved.

Whether it was the shock of the wave or Tony’s fear that got to him, he wasn’t sure but a second later he turned on his heels and ran for the lab.

“FRIDAY, lock the doors!”

“Yes, boss.”


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has a surprise encounter.

**CHAPTER SIX**

For two weeks, Tony mostly stuck to himself, only leaving his room or his lab to get food or coffee or water. He saw only Clint, a bit of Sam, flashes of Steve and Natasha, and a flicker of the Soldier throughout the two weeks. It wasn’t necessary for him to see them. They were getting used to being in the compound and pretty soon they would be starting the New Recruits Program (NRP), Tony had nothing to do with them. Rhodey, on the other hand, had everything to do with them. As soon as he got back from Britain, Rhodey was given the job of keeping Rogers and his team in line and so Tony hardly got to see him. Which was upsetting because other than Rhodey, Tony didn’t really talk to anyone else.

Tony shifted his ass, which had begun to go numb from the position he was sitting in. His mind wandered as he thought about the events of  _ that _ night. It was the first time he and the Soldier had held eye contact for longer than five minutes and while the soldier appeared harmless, Tony knew that he hadn’t been completely wiped of HYDRAs control.

“FRIDAY?”

“Yes Boss,” The AI system replied in no time.

“Pull up everything you can find about the Winter Soldier Program.”

“Pulling up data, two minutes remaining.”

Tony drummed his fingers against the arc reactor in his chest as he waited.

“Finished, Boss.”

The wall to Tony’s left lit up with images and documents and videos. He swiveled around and stood up, walking over to the data displayed.

He ran his hand over different facts, pushing them to the sideline to find what he really wanted to know, which was how exactly HYDRA created the Winter Soldier.

“FRIDAY, get rid of everything about the soldier’s targets.”

About twenty-three different things disappeared from the wall.

“Now get rid of SHIELD files about the soldier’s sightings.”

Sixteen files disappeared.

“Get rid of characteristics and basically anything to do with SHIELD.”

One by one, files and images and videos disappeared from the wall until all that remained was a video and a file.

Tony grabbed the file from its corners and enlarged it so it took up majority of the wall.

“Read it out to me FRIDAY?”

“Whatever you ask,” FRIDAY snarked and he rolled his eyes at that. JARVIS would be proud. “In 1943, Arnim Zola developed a super soldier serum much like that of Captain America’s on serum. The first subject of this serum was James Buchanan Barnes. It is believed Zola had begun experimentation while Sergeant Barnes was held captive. However, it wasn’t until the Sergeant’s unfortunate fall that experimentation really began. In a journal entry from March 1945, Zola notes that the replacement of James Barnes left arm was _superb_ _and undoubtedly his finest work_.

Zola then goes into detail about the mental manipulation used to create the Winter Soldier, would you like to watch the video, Boss?”

Tony nods. With a heavy sigh, he takes a seat because the video was going to be without a doubt, gory and horrific.

FRIDAY began the video. The first three seconds were a black screen and then it lit up and a man appeared in front of the camera, Arnim Zola.

**“Мы начинаем тридцать четвертую процедуру в 17:00, 15 июня 1945 года. Сержант Джеймс Бьюкенен Барнс станет первым Зимним Солдатом.”**

“We begin the thirty-fourth procedure at 17:00, June 15, 1945. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes will be the first Winter Soldier.” FRIDAY translated the scientists words for Tony.

Zola moved out of view but zoomed the camera in to focus on the man strapped to a metal chair.

**“** **Подготовьте пациента.”**

“Prepare the patient.”

Five men walked into view and begin doing individual things on the soldiers body. One man grabbed a large needle, flicked the end, and then stabbed it into Barnes’ jugular. Tony hissed as he watched.

The man squatting next to Barnes’ feet begin cutting his toenails and another man began snipping his fingernails. There was a man at the soldiers head who used a razor to shave down the stubble growing on the Sergeants face as well as buzz cutting his hair. It was an odd image, James Barnes with a shaved head.

The fifth HYDRA soldier was leaning over the same spot as the needle injection. He had a thin tube in one hand and a needle in the other.

“Please tell me he’s not.”

FRIDAY remained silent.

Tony had no choice but to watch, his fingers gripping the edge of his seat until his knuckles turned white, and his heart beating as fast as a hummingbirds while the HYDRA soldier lowered the needle to Barnes’ neck.

He thrashed against the bindings.

Tony bit down on his lip and didn’t allow himself to look away. He would watch the video. After all, it was a fraction compared to what Barnes went through.

The man inserted the tube into the Barnes’ neck, a procedure that was called Cardiac Catheterization—a fairly risky method in the 40’s.

Tony couldn’t imagine going through it without anesthetic.

“ **мы начнем манипулировать разумом** .”

“We will begin to manipulate the mind.”

Tony watched for two hours as Barnes; underwent series of memory wipes. Occasionally, Zola would announce which memories they wiped.

“First years.”

“Second years.”

“Third years.”

Zola continued until they reached, “Twenty-eighth year.”

Tony dropped his head into his hand, twenty-eight. James Barnes was only twenty-eight years old.

The machinery stopped buzzing but the tube remained in his throat and he was still bound to the chair.

Zola began repeating words.

Tony recognised them as the same words that Helmut Zemo had repeated.

He watched with mild fascination as after each word, Barnes would slowly respond or become less responsive.

**“Желание.”**

Barnes moved his head to peer at the man speaking.

**“Ржавый.”**

He tried to move his arms and then tried his legs, the binding held him firmly down.

**“Семнадцать.”**

His hands clenched.

**“** **Рассвет.”**

Barnes blinked four times.

**“Плита.”**

The metal hand moved and he looked down at it.

**“Девять.”**

Barnes stared at his arm. Tony could see the gears moving in his mind.

**“Добросердечный.”**

Barnes looked straight at the camera.

**“возвращение на родину.”**

Tony felt as though Barnes was analyzing his very soul.

**“Один.”**

Was it still Barnes?

**“грузовой вагон.”**

Tony watched as the light died from James Barnes eyes as fast as a slapper across a cheater’s face.

The HYDRA agent that had being calling off the trigger words walked to the right of Barnes —The Winter Soldier?—and closed the red notebook in his hands.

“ **Солдат?** ” The man phrased it as a question.  _ Soldier. _

“ **готовы соблюдать** .”

_ Ready to comply. _

The video fizzled out to the sound of clapping and hooting, Tony couldn’t understand how they felt joy at turning a man into a machine.

“Would you like me to continue reading, boss?”

“No.”

The lab went silent.

Tony thought.

He was angry.

Angry at HYDRA, angry at the Winter Soldier, but most of all, he was angry at himself. The man he had fought in Siberia was not the same man that killed his parents but Tony had unfairly shoved them in the same boat. Part of that was because he was grieving and needed someone or something to take it out on but it didn’t matter. Tony was supposed to think with a clear mind, that’s who he was, that’s what he was meant to do. He wasn’t supposed to allow emotions to cloud his judgment. He couldn’t let it.

Dum-E chirped and rolled over to Tony’s seat, the little machine extended its arm and grabbed Tony’s hand. It chirped again.

“You alright buddy?”

Dum-E rurred in time with Tony’s stomach.

“You’re right. FRIDAY, when was the last time I had a meal?”

“Yesterday afternoon, midday.”

“Great.” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Ask Rhodey if he wants to grab lunch.”

“Done.”

Tony turned his attention to the bow he was creating for Barton. It needed a new drawstring, a polish, and Tony had some new arrow designs he wanted to test out.

He managed to get half an hour of work done before Rhodey replied.

_ ‘Sorry Ton, board meeting about limiting terrorist crimes.’ _

He groaned and began tapping his chest.

“Is this fridge stocked?”

“There is about a three day supply.”

“Fantastic, make a note to grab groceries on Friday.”

Tony made his way up to the kitchen. He didn’t really want to see anyone but this was his home and something Rhodey had said the previous week stuck with him.

_ “Don’t let them make you afraid to be you.” _

“FRIDAY, pull up a recipe for Quesadillas.”

It took an hour for Tony to make his lunch and finally start eating it. It took another ten minutes for the first person to interrupt his peace and quiet.

“Oh shit.”

Tony glanced to the hallway, Lang was standing nervously at the opening. Tony briefly wondered whether he was missing his daughter, not that he didn’t get to see her. Tony made sure he would get visits.

“Sorry Stark, didn’t realise you were in ‘ere.” He sounded confident but Tony could detect the slight waver in his words.

“It’s fine.” Tony waved a hand.

Lang didn’t stay long, grabbed a bottle of Pepsi and a bag of doritos then left.

Tony had just finished his first quesadilla when two more people made an appearance.

“Stark!” Barton exclaimed, and sat down on the chair opposite him. Natasha came crawling—figuratively—in behind him but remained standing.

“Stark…” She said softly, her voice dripping with feigned innocence. Tony didn’t hate Natasha, he didn’t even dislike her but he was wary of her. She was a skilled spy and assassin and Tony knows she is capable of tricking of truth out of someone. Despite all that, he respected her immensely. Even after the Civil War.

“How are you?” He asked politely, stuffing another bite of cheesy beans into his mouth.

“Just finished working out, you?” Clint was cheerful enough to respond. The endorphins were probably swimming around his brain right now.

To answer Barton’s question though, Tony held up his half-eaten, second quesadilla.

“Ah.” He replied.

Natasha tapped her foot against Barton’s, “We…” She said pointedly, “Have to go, Fury wants to talk.”

Barton smiled sheepishly.

“Nice seeing you Tony, come down to the gym and we’ll train?”

“Sure thing and you come down to the lab, I have a gift for you.”

“No.”

Tony nodded and watched as Clint’s face light up like Father Christmas on a soccer mums roof.

“Clint…” Natasha sang, slowly inching towards the exit.

“Right.” Clint jumped off the seat and ran past her, out the kitchen and into the hallway yelling something about first one to the quinjet.

Natasha stopped at the hallway.

“I’m sorry Tony.” And then she was gone.

The third person came while Tony was washing his plate and downing the quesadilla with a cup of orange juice—Rhodey had gotten him addicted.

Tony didn’t notice the third guest until he spun around and stopped dead, staring right into the eyes of the ex-assassin.

Barnes scratched his neck.

“Sorry.” He turned to leave but Tony shook his head.

“It’s—It’s fine. This is a shared space.”

Barnes stopped and turned around unsurely.

“Can I get you anything?”

“Umm…” Barnes sat awkwardly on the kitchen stool, “I—” He cut himself off and looked down nervously.

“The ice-cream?”

Tony knew that face but by the look of Barnes’, he didn’t know how Tony could possibly know that.

“It’s okay, I bought that ice-cream for you.” Tony said and then corrected, “Well, no, not specifically for you but I could see someone was eating about a pint a day so I stocked up the freezer.” To prove his point, Tony opened up the freezer and showed the thirty containers of ice-cream. Barnes’ eyes lit up, slightly.

Tony pulled one out and threw it to Barnes, who caught it expertly, and then went and grabbed him a spoon, which he slid across the counter.

Tony watched as the soldier carefully opened the lid and grabbed a spoonful of ice-cream, his eyes closing as he enjoyed the taste.

Tony grinned.

Then frowned.

Their conversation was nice, pleasant even, but Tony couldn’t ignore the scratching feeling on his chest that he needed to go.

He pulled the orange juice from the fridge and topped up his glass, he took one sip as he analysed the soldier.

He seemed uncomfortable, if the closed soldiers and downard staring was anything to go off. It was interesting to think about the man he had fought six months prior compared to the man now. As he thought about the differences, he was struck by something a stranger had said to him, years ago.

‘Pain is relative.’

Tony bit his lip, “If you ever need anything, come find me.”

Tony didn’t wait for an answer but just turned around and left.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow  
> I’m alive?  
> Honestly I’m so disappointed that I haven’t updated for nearly two months and I’m sorry!!!!  
> Lmao I’ve had the fucking worst writers block! I haven’t written for that two months and only just got back into writing again and I don’t understand why it’s so hard to write continuously uh!  
> Also I started writing another winteriron WIP   
> But I’ll publish that when I finish this book.  
> Which I will!

It was easy to lapse into silence with Stevie. At the beginning, he was constantly on edge and always asking whether Bucky was okay or if he needed anything. It got on his nerves but this was Stevie, his little brother.

Bucky glanced over at him.

“Stevie, you gotta minute?”

Steve looked up from his book and nodded, “Yeah?”

“Stark,” Bucky noticed as the Steve’s lips curved down, “What was he like.”

“What do you mean bud?”

He was playing dumb and Buck knew that but he answered anyway.

“At the start, when you first met him and before,” He gestured broadly but Steve understood.

“Tony, is a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. He’s self-centered and egotistical.”

Bucky kept his face neutral but inside his eyes were widening, he wasn’t all that bad.

“But,” Steve went on, “He’s tactical on the field and selfless, he protects civilians and his teammates. Stark is a good soldier.”

A good soldier. He’d heard that once or twice about himself.

The asset is an admirable weapon.

Bucky hums in understanding, from the corner of his eyes he can see Stevie analysing him but his face remains masked. Steve returns to his book.

The room becomes silent again.

“Hey-o!” Sam dives for the couch and wraps himself around Steve, “What’s up soldier?”

“Finally finished training?”

“Had to cut it short, he was whining like a baby,” Natalia responded to Steve’s question, she took a seat on the chair’s arm. Sam gave her a glare which turned into a smile when Steve whispered something into his ear. The pair shut everyone out as the muttered things to themselves.

“Alright, Barnes?” 

He moved his gaze to look at Natalia.

“Fine.” His answer was short. He still didn’t completely trust the spy but she was better than the witch.

He struggled to swallow down a growl at the thought of her.

Natalia gave him an odd look but kept her thoughts to herself. 

He spent a few more moments and the couch, listening to the conversation of Sam, Steve, and Natalia but he got bored. They all talked nonsense.

Without offering a reason for leaving, he pushed himself out of the chair and made his way to the bedroom he was given.

“Lady?” Bucky asked, still slightly confused by the whole Artificial Intelligence, ‘I follow you everywhere’ thing.

“Yes?” The voice replied, somewhat offended.

“Can you find me a bunch of stuff about Tony Stark?”

If the computer system was amused, it didn’t give any indication except for a soft buzzing.

A second later his wall was covered with Tony Stark’s name.

“Great,” Bucky looked around the room to find the camera, “Thanks,” He said looking straight into one.

He spent four hours reading and watching interviews, articles, speeches, and something called a tumblr post?

Until finally, he began to crave his ice-cream with the marshmallow bits and caramel swirls.

“FRIDAY,” He remembered the AI’s name, “Can you pause the video?”

“Of course, Sergeant Barnes.”

He didn’t correct her.

Bucky was constantly amazed at just how big the compound was. His room was on the first level—preferred being closer to the ground—and yet he still had the perfect view of New York’s scenery.

Bucky took the second tub of ice-cream that day, the warmth of his hands melting the ice off the container. When he glanced up after closing the freezer, he noticed Steve sitting on the couch, a book in one hand and tea in the other—English Breakfast.

It took Steve a whole minute to notice Bucky from his spot on the opposite couch.

“Hey, Buck.”

“Steve,” His voice was low and came out from the back of his throat, he’d be struggling to sleep lately and being surrounded by strangers didn’t help. Although, he supposed he should be used to it. HYDRA didn’t both getting to know him and he was constantly sleeping, eating, showering, and training with strangers. The Winter Soldier was in control then and Bucky guessed he didn’t really have a preference with who he was surrounded by. Or maybe he did. There was no way Bucky could know.

“Bucky?”

His head snapped up to look at Steve who was giving him that worried expression.

“Sorry, what’d you say?”

“What’ve you been doing today.”

“Nothing really,” He thought back to the videos of Stark, “Reading.”

Steve glanced at his own book and smiled, “A lot to catch up on, isn’t there.”

Bucky nodded.

They lulled into a comfortable silence until the pestering feeling clawing at Bucky’s mind forced him to speak.

“What’s Stark like?” He said it absently, as though he hadn’t spent hours analysing every image, video, and article about Tony Stark he could find, or rather, FRIDAY could find.

Steve shut his book.

“Huh?”

“Stark.”

“What about Stark.”

Steve was playing dumb and they both knew it. Bucky rolled his eyes.

“What was he like? What do you think of him?”

Steve took a breath in.

“Tony is, uh, interesting. He wouldn’t be my first choice on a battlefield or even my second. He’s eccentric, arrogant, confident but not a subtle confident. Tony is cocky. He flaunts his money around and flirts with anything that has a heartbeat. Tony Stark is difficult to handle and he’s difficult to get to know but when he becomes Iron Man, he’s a changed person.” Steve turned his head to stare out the glass windows, “You should’ve seen him Bucky, when we first became the Avengers. He was selfless and put himself first. Iron Man knew about the risks of his actions and I respected that. I still respect that. Sure he was still snarky and made off-handed jokes but the battle always came first, he knew that.” And then, just to add, “Stark is immature but when he’s Iron Man, he’s a leader.”

Bucky listened through Steve’s speech, eyes narrowing more and more with each word he said.

“Is that so?” Bucky asked, rhetorically of course. He really didn’t care what Steve answered.

Natasha and Sam chose that moment to arrive and steal Steve away for A.R.T (Avengers Recruitment Training) and Bucky didn’t know whether he was pleased or—he shrugged his shoulder.

Bucky shoves a spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth, grabs another container and conceals himself under the blankets.

For hours, he stays like that because he was about 2000 more things of Stark to look at and his day was basically free of obligations so what else was he going to do?

*****

Tony Stark was a facade and so was Iron Man.

Bucky came to this conclusion at midnight after watching his final interview, which was one Tony Stark that had just came back from Afghanistan. He had big dark bags under his eyes, scars and bruises, and the faintest glow under his suit. Yet, the way he was able to get everyone to sit down and listen to what he said, while eating a burger, was remarkable to Bucky and there was a small part in the back of his brain that was screaming admiration at this man.

It was also around this time that Bucky needed to escape his room.

He rode the elevator to floor five and limpered over to the couch. His body crashed into the cushions but he was near silent, not that he really needed to be, everyone was well asleep by now. Which was good for him because his mind was so full of thoughts that he needed some silence to sort through them all.

This man, a man that his ‘friends’—he uses the term lightly as he hardly remembers any of them, save for Stevie—had all warned him about, and yet Bucky had been welcomed into the compound with somewhat open arms. An assassin, responsible for murdering and torturing too many people to count, the likes of which include Stark’s parents, was granted full pardons.

And he knew that Tony was the one that helped with the pardons.

His mind curled around the thoughts and dove into each one, searching for something that Bucky didn’t know about yet.

Through his thoughts, a small part of his mind still registered the sound of bare feet against tiles and heavy breathing. A small part of his mind quickly accessed the exits, potential weapons, and best way to remain hidden.

Bucky brushed it off as force of habit.

He waited and listened as the steps grew louder.

The person wandered through the kitchen passage, a tablet illuminating bloodshot eyes and pouty— _ kissable _ —lips.

Stark flicked a switch on the coffee maker and leaned back against the counter, tablet switching from his left hand to his right hand. The soft grind of coffee beans seemed to lull Stark into a daze—even more so than he already was—and Bucky felt bad for watching a vulnerable man.

He cleared his throat.

“Shit!”

Bucky was impressed with the height at which Stark jumped, he was even more so impressed with the effortless way he caught the tablet that had managed to slip through his fingers.

“Sorry,” Bucky said, genuinely. Stark waved a hand nonchalantly but Bucky could hear the rush of his heartbeat and he could see the glimmer of distrust in his eyes. Bucky was an assassin, he would be worried if Stark wasn’t suspicious of him.

The room felt heavy with unspoken words.

_ ‘Sorry for killing your parents.’ _

Bucky settles with, “how was your day?”

Tony definitely looks more cautious but there’s something else.

“It was…” stark shrugged as he trailed of his sentence but Bucky understand what he was saying.

“And yours?”

The assassin watched as the mechanic/billionaire/genius/superhero tried to say it with ease and confidence and at the same time, like he didn’t really care. Bucky was trained to see the subtle hints of emotion, even before HYDRA, and he knew Tony was far more interested in Bucky’s day then he showed.

Bucky decided to amuse Tony. It was well past midnight, and the pair of them were stuck in the kitchen until Tony finished making his coffee.

“Long or short story.”

“Long,” Tony responds after glancing at Bucky’s face, “I’ve got all night.”

Bucky nods, and then pauses. What had he been doing all day?

Oh.

Oh no.

_ ‘I was watching videos and researching all about you since yesterday to tonight.” _

He couldn’t say that.

“I’ve been keeping myself up to date on the history from 1945 onwards, found out there’s a lot of stuff I’ve heard wrong and don’t understand.”

That wasn’t a complete lie.

“Oh?” Tony answered. Bucky could have sworn there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Yeah, turns out defrosting seventy decades later is harder than it looks.”

Tony snorted, then seemed surprised by himself and quickly busied his hands with adding milk and sugar to his coffee. Bucky thought he’d be more of a black coffee kinda guy.

“If you need help, FRIDAYs always available.”

“I met her, seems nice.”

“That, James Barnes, is the nicest thing you can say to me.”

Challenge accepted.

“FRIDAY is a fine piece of work, a bit too snarky if you ask me.”

From somewhere in the room, the Irish accent of the AI spoke up, “I wonder where a learnt it from, Boss.”

Tony did a gesture with his hands that Bucky assumed meant,  _ ‘see what I mean’ _ .

He chuckled.

The kitchen fell dead quiet.

Bucky briefly thought about jumping out the window and running away but scrapped the idea as Tony had begun talking again.

“I’m glad to see you settling in so well.”

That surprised him. Was the man actually glad or just saying it out of obligation?

“Thanks,” Bucky replied instead of questioning.

“I should, uh—“ Tony scratched his neck, “I’m gonna go, got lots of work to finish.”

Bucky could see the man's eyes cloud with emotions, he just wasn’t sure what.

Bucky nodded and waited for the soft platter of feet to completely disappear before slouching across the counter and breathing in and out.

That was fucking weird.

Steve has told Bucky that Tony could be egotistical and impolite sometimes but in the few moments they had talked, he got no sense of that.

He supposed there was plenty of time to find out more about the man.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh I’ve written this three times and my computer keeps crashing.  
> Long story short  
> This is a short chapter  
> Will probably continue to write short chapters bc they’re waaaay easier to write (especially when I have writers block)  
> Don’t judge for any grammar and crap, it’s midnight  
> Enjoy!

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

The compound is large. Which makes it perfect for Bucky to run create a running route. He could use the proper track but he prefers to feel grass underneath his feet rather than whatever material used to create the maroon surface.

It’s especially nice to not have a laid out track because it allows him to get creative with dodging objects, over, under, around, and more. It was fun, for him. And then when he got too tired and the sun started to rise too high, he’d go back inside and cook breakfast.

Like today.

Expect this time Colonel Rhodes is sitting at the dining table chair.

“Colonel.” Bucky greets him politely, his stomach not quiet sitting right.

“Sergeant.” Is Rhodes reply, friendly enough. “This is for you.”

Bucky is given a folder titled “November Schedule”.

Rhodes is gone by the time Bucky gets a good look at the folder.

He lays it flat on kitchen counter and reads while cooking a simple sausage and egg breakfast. He continues to read it through his meal and into his room.

He showers and changes.

Then heads to his first lesson.

He feels out of place in the compound, everything fresh and modern and he was just a man (assassin) stuck somewhere that wasn’t the 40s and definitely wasn’t the present.

“Sergeant Barnes?”

Bucky nodded to the woman as he entered the room.

It’s just them.

“Take a seat.”

He does.

“I want to start off by asking what you’ve experience so far.”

He doesn’t exactly understand the question.

He tells her just that.

“Technology wise, pop culture, all that fun stuff. What do you understand and what have you seen.”

He thinks back to his time in Wakanda, when doctors would explain the medical pros edited and Shuri would constantly send him memes (mee-mees?) and vines.

“In Wakanda they had technology.” Bucky says and the ‘teacher’ nods like he just made a huge step. “And the princess would show me things from the internet.”

“Ah…” She begins shuffling around in her drawers until she pulls out a notebook and pen. “That gives us somewhere to begin. Now, I don’t want to jump into the twenty-first century straight away, my understanding is you’re still stuck in the 1940’s?”

Bucky nodded.

“Do you remember anything from that time?”

Briefly, he wondered whether she knew about his memory loss and whether he should lie or not. In the end, he shakes his head and tells her the truth.

_‘A fresh start.’_

“Well, then, I want to begin by teaching you the…”

For an hour—with multiple breaks in between—Bucky learns about inventions, wars, politics, and trends from the 40s to 50s. He doesn’t mind the topic but gets frustrated by memories that drift in and out of his mind, like a heavy fog that he can’t seem to grip.

“I think we’ve made excellent progress,” Divya says, he learnt her name halfway through the lesson.

Bucky smiles sheepishly.

“Do you have a journal?”

His mind skipped to his own desk and drawers, filled with stationery.

“Yes.”

“Fantastic. As homework, I want you to write anything you learn about pop culture and history, then next lesson, we’ll go over it and you ask me any questions you have. Sound good?”

Bucky didn’t respond, just nodded.

“Good afternoon Sergeant Barnes.”

He hated that name.

The door swung shut gently as he left. For a minute or two, he wanders through the halls, not really going anywhere but somewhere at the same time. His boots don’t make a noise, just like they trained him.

“Sergeant Barnes?”

Bucky struggles to control the urge to drop into a fight stance and he repeated to himself, _‘It’s just FRIDAY.’_

“Yeah?”

“There are sandwiches in the kitchen if you would like.” After beat, “And it is empty.”

He couldn’t help the grin that split across his face and he practically ran to the kitchen. He didn’t run, but he walked, faster than usual.

True to her word, there was a platter of sandwiches laid upon the marble counter, with labels of what they were.

Bucky chose a turkey and cranberry one and as he munched into it, eyed off a meatball sandwich.

“Feel free to take more, Tony bought three platters.”

He had heard her come in but considering he could subdue her within three minutes, maximum, he paid no attention.

He shoved a mouthful of turkey into his mouth and listened to the barely there footsteps of Natalia as she walked around him.

“How are you adjusting?” She asked with an air of casualness.

“Fine.”

She nodded.

Bucky had finished his first sandwich and sat, contemplating for a moment whether it was actually alright to grab another sandwich.

He was rarely given a meal as delicious as this and was never given a second serving. HYDRA believed in restriction and discipline.

Natalia reached over and helped herself to three and a half sandwiches.

Bucky’s grabbed the meatball sandwich and chewed into it.

“Do you remember me?”

He did, slightly. He remembers fiery red hair and handlers yelling commands, he remembers feeling love for the first time—as the Winter Soldier.

“Yes.”

“Really, _старый друг_?”

There was no sirens for the tsunami of memories that hit him with the simple nickname.

A red room, stained with blood of men and women and children.

A ring, a place where the weak died.

Girls, too young to read properly but they could effortlessly disassemble and reassemble a Remington 700 with ease that would be any officer to shame.

And then he remembers her…

Barely a teenager but her hands already stained red.

He remembers the orders from his handlers, _‘сделать её оружием.’_

 _Make her a weapon_.

And he did.

He also remembers stealing her an extra bread roll, perhaps a token from where his missions led him. He recalls midnight chats and the protective love that bubble in his stomach.

He remembers the little girl with hair as red as the blood of her enemies and yet eyes that still held onto a slimmer of hope.

“ _старый друг?”_

“I know you.”

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Too cold…

Too sad...

“You do.”

“What happened to you?”

She leaned back into her seat from beside him, a mask of boredom flicking up.

“What happens to us all, солдат. Life breaks us down until we give in.”

“You said you wouldn’t.”

“So did you,” Natalia moved away, “But it’s hard to fight when you have no hope left.”


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "FRIDAY?"  
> "Yes, boss?" The AI answered immediately.  
> "Show Barnes Project Winter's Bite."  
> One after the other, files and files over information popped up in front of Bucky and he could feel his eyes gloss over at the information.  
> "What is this?"  
> "This," Stark gestured, "Is for your new arm."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what up!  
> sorry it's been a while but here is chapter nine, yay!  
> lemme know if you enjoyed the chapter and if you find any mistakes or errors, comment them so I can fix them up for ya'll.  
> anyway, that's enough from me.  
> enjoooooooy

**CHAPTER NINE**

Bucky doesn’t understand the cartoons these days. 

He watched, with a tilted head, as the sponge and the pink starfish spent a whole day trying to catch jellyfish and some of the jokes were corny and the voices were too high and squeaky. It annoyed him

Nevertheless, he binge-watched the cartoon.

FRIDAY had been extremely helpful in setting up the show on his tablet as he absently made a small fort of blankets for himself.

And locked the door.

And blacked out the room.

Until all that was left was the dimmed light from under the covers.

 

“Sergeant?”

Bucky’s finger hovered over the pause button, he could stay here and watch sponge man all day.

“Yes, FRIDAY?” He replied, voice slightly muffled.

“Boss has requested you in the lab.”

Bucky threw off his blanket and looked up at the ceiling—he couldn’t help it.

“Stark?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

Bucky’s string of swears was muffled under his breath. 

“What’s the time?” He exclaimed. Pulling on whatever shirt and jeans was easiest, he navigated his way through the pitch black room with ease, eyes adjusting to the darkness faster than moving an arm or a leg.

“Currently four o’clock in the afternoon.”

Shit!

He had missed both his therapy session and almost missed his arm maintenance.

“Tell Mrs Braddock that I’m willing to schedule another session whenever she’d like.”

“I have already let her know that you would be missing today’s session,” FRIDAY said, her voice sounding amused.

Bucky stopped his movements of picking up the tablet and asked, “Why didn’t you remind me?”

“Per Mr Stark’s request.”

“What?” Bucky muttered, eyes digging into his head as he tried to make sense of that. It wasn’t a complex sentence but it made no sense to him.

Why was Stark giving him a day off instead of forcing him—an ex-assassin—into therapy after therapy after therapy.

“If I may, Sergeant?” Bucky gave her the go ahead and she continued, “Mr Stark has been very adamant that you all receive rest days when needed.”

What? 

“And once again, I must stress that you are needed in the workshop.”

 

Bucky flung open his bedroom door, passed through the kitchen and grabbed a leftover sub, ignoring the grimace on Wanda’s face, and continued to run through the halls until he made it to the workshop, minutes to spare.

Either Stark didn’t notice him come in or he chose to ignore him because when Bucky looked at the man, his hair was hanging across his forehead and nose practically buried in what looked to be a replica of Wilson’s wings.

Bucky began to open his mouth to ask a question or announce his presence, he wasn’t really sure but it didn’t matter, as in that moment, a metal robot stuck his hand(?) into Bucky’s face and waved. Or attempted to wave.

Bucky tensed up at the foreign object.

He tried to take a step back but the robot eagerly whirred forward.

 

“Don’t encourage him.”

Bucky looked up but the Stark was still in the same position.

Sucking in a breath, he tried casual, “I rarely ever mean to.”

It was cheesy and made no sense but there was a hint of flirting behind the words that Bucky wanted to take back—but also didn’t really want to.

The geniuses head rose and he quirked an eyebrow.

“Dum-E, charging port.”

The bot let out a small whir and travelled past Bucky and Stark and into a little clear box that turned a deep red as soon as the robot was settled in.

It would be stupid to say Bucky wasn’t amazed.

“I made him in college, my most prized possession,” Stark said as he patted the seat to his right. Bucky assumes it was meant for him.

“Did you?”

“Yep,” Adding a little pop on the P, “He can get a little excited though, so just tell him to back off if you need to.”

Bucky nodded.

They both lapsed into not exactly an uncomfortable silence, but there was definitely some tension. Bucky could easily see the tightness of Stark’s shoulders and without having to look, the wrinkles between his eyebrows.

 

“FRI?” Stark called out, his hands clearing an area for his tools.

“Yes, sir?”

He heard the man suck in a breath, “Show Sergeant Barnes Project Winter’s Bite.”

Bucky cocked his head to the side at that and felt the shadowed presence in his mind jumped forward, he struggled to push it away.

Eventually, it didn’t matter as both he and the presence were distracted by the glow of holograms lighting up the air in front of him. There were multiple files and his eyes skimmed through them to gather information.

They were swooshed away by a hand.

Bucky locked eyes with Stark before the older man blinked and refocused on the files. His hands swirled through various information until he reached forward and grabbed a blueprint, he pulled it to the front and then spun it around for Bucky to see.

Only he didn’t exactly understand it.

It was an arm, not unlike his own but the design was slightly different and it was missing the red star and the material seemed different to his current one and Bucky couldn’t help wondering why Stark would spend time making a new arm.

“What is it?” Bucky asked before he could snap his mouth shut. He wanted to slap himself for the stupid question because it was quite clearly, an arm.

However, Stark seemed to understand.

“It’s a new and improved arm for you.” Stark looked down at his feet for a minute before a smirk slid into place.

Again, Bucky’s mouth spoke by itself, “Why?”

“I did some calculations.” Tony took a seat and wiped away the blueprint to bring up a file that contained equations and percentages and formulas. “Your arm was built in the 40’s —” He paused as if waiting for Bucky to tell him he was wrong, “—And obviously has had many upgrades through the decades. It’s a fine piece of work and was designed well before its time but, with what we now know and have built in this decade, the arm is losing the edge it once had. That is beside the point, you’re arm is slowly degrading. FRIDAY and I both predict that it will begin to lose function within the year and will be completely corroded by five years. You need a new arm.”

 

Tony rested his head within his hand and waited for Bucky to respond.

He didn’t know how to.

This was all new information to him. His handlers never told him what they did to the arm, all he knew was that it was a happen, a part of him that he could move as easily as his fingers and head. The looming thought that eventually, he wouldn't be able to move his left arm at all, terrified him and that was not an easy thing to say.

“I can’t,” He mumbled out.

“Hmm?” Stark hummed, his eyes wanting to shut and only by pure determination were they staying open.

“I can’t accept this.”

The man looked at him shocked, “What’s the problem?”

“I can’t ask you to do this for me.”

“Well lucky for you, I’m kind of forcing you into it. That arm,” He pointed out Bucky’s current one, “Is going to fail you pretty soon.”

“Why are you doing this.” The question was extremely harsh and both Bucky and the older man widened their eyes.

“You’re part of this now, Barnes, whether you like it or not and that’s just what we do for each other.”

They stayed silent, neither really looking at each other while Bucky thought over the conversation. If Stark was telling the truth and his arm really was decaying, then it would be dangerous to keep the old arm and besides, it had too many memories.

 

_ The skid of tires, the impact of a car, that soft footsteps of boots. _

_ ‘Bucky?’ _

 

He shook his head and focused on Stark.

“Okay.”

The man’s eyes glimmered, “Yeah?”

“No anesthesia and no doctors.” Bucky stood his ground even when Stark narrowed his eyes. They were both stubborn but this was Bucky’s arm.

“We won’t put you under but it’ll hurt like a bitch,” Stark answered the first half of his demand.

“I can deal with that but no doctors,” He repeated again, just in case Stark was trying to ignore it.

He sighed, “I’m not a doctor, Barnes. Legally, I can’t operate on you and personally, I won’t. Not without a professional.”

Bucky didn’t say anything, his face was blank, but slowly and with direct eye contact, he crossed his arms.

Stark slumped into the chair even further and huffed tiredly and in anger, “No strangers.”

Bucky thought about that, he didn’t know any doctors so he couldn’t possibly understand what the man meant.

“Doctor Helen Cho, Doctor Stephen Strange and Doctor Bruce Banner.”

 

The names were familiar.

 

“Doctor Strange is a neurosurgeon but also,” Stark waved his hands as he tried to figure out the words, “ AWizard? Or ‘Master of the Mystic Arts’ is what he says.”

Bucky wanted to snort at that. The world had definitely changed from what he remembered, which wasn’t much.

“Doctor Banner, I’m sure you’ve met or at least seen in passing. He’s a well-known scientist, he’s worked a fair bit in biochemistry. He also turns into a big green dude which is my favourite part about him. I need Helen, she’s a geneticist and I’ll need her assistance to make sure the surgery goes through correctly,” Stark said, “I need them all.”

He thought over this.

“Okay.”

Stark smothered a grin but clapped his hand, “Perfect! I’ll schedule the surgery for two weeks time?” Bucky nodded. “We’re done here, then. You’re free to go.”

Bucky watched curiously as the man turned back to his work, muttering something to FRIDAY and navigating around a diagram she had pulled up. He stayed in the workshop for a few more minutes before slinking away, as silent as he had come in. The only sound of confirmation that Stark noticed him leave was the swivel of a chair.

 

He passed through the common area on his way to back to the bedroom.

Steve gripped his arm from his position on the couch.

Bucky didn’t mean to react the way he did.

He didn’t mean to lift Steve from the couch and get him in a chock hold, but he did and as soon as he realised, his arms when numb.

“I’m so sorry, Steve,” Bucky whispered, looking at his boots. He felt the hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright Buck, I shouldn’t have startled you.”

Bucky shook his head and wanted to say it wasn’t Steve’s fault but nothing came out and so Steve continued talking.

“Where’d you come from.”

“The workshop,” Bucky answered and was surprised by Steve’s sigh.

“Be careful, alright?”

“Yeah… Always.” Bucky answered with a blank face but inside he was trying to figure out what that meant exactly.

Steve’s grip fell from his shoulder to his hand and Bucky followed the movement.

“We’ve got defence training”


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony goes to the parent-teacher interview  
> and an interaction with someone unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo yo yo  
> small chapter  
> really bad writing too lmao  
> not much plot  
> but i hope there's a cute interaction between tony and peter  
> enjoy!

**CHAPTER TEN**

Tony straightened his tie for the fifth time. He wasn’t nervous. He was Tony Stark and Tony Stark didn’t get nervous. Especially not for a parent-teacher interview.

He glanced at Peter, the kid was tapping his foot anxiously on the floor and Tony realised just how important this was to the kid and that made him immediately shove aside his own nerves.

“Mister Parker?” A very young looking woman exited the principal's office and waved the pair in. If she had been shocked to see Tony there, she didn’t let it show.

As they took the seats, Peter glanced over and tried to smile. Tony chuckled lightly and patted his shoulder.

“You must be Peter’s, uh…” She appeared lost as to what Tony was exactly doing there.

“I’m his mentor,” Tony responded and she nodded.

“I’m Mrs Klements, the vice principal because unfortunately, Principal Morita had an accident.

“Sorry to hear that,” Tony said warmly and offered a smile, beside him Peter stopped tapping his foot.

“Before we begin, I’d like to ask a few questions about the mentorship, if that’s alright?” Mrs Klements asked, her hands clasped in front of her and Tony, for the second time that night, was amazed at the level of authority radiating from her.

“Not a problem,” Tony answered and waited for her first question.

“What exactly do you have Peter do at Stark Industries?”

Good question.

“On most occasions, Peter will work with me on any assignments that I think would benefit his learning and future. I’ll take him down to the labs and show him behind the scenes. More often than not I’ll allow him to work on his own inventions. I believe in allowing kids to grow without restrictions and experimenting.”

Peter was grinning to his right and Tony couldn’t help Tony and giving him a sly smirk.

“I’m impressed, Mister Stark and frankly, it must be working as Peter’s grades are—” She shuffled through a folder on her desk and handed Tony a paper, “Outstanding.”

Tony skimmed through the information and she didn’t lie. Peter’s grades were well above average which Tony expected but were still impressive to see. He patted Peter on the back.

“You’ve done well, kid.”

Peter’s grin reached ear to ear.

“I must say, Peter has the potential to really change the world, he just needs to buckle down a bit and focus.”

Tony sent a knowing look Peter’s way which communicated  _ ‘stop sneaking out at night and trying to take down criminals’ _ . The kid’s cheeks flushed.

“I do have a couple more questions, Mister Stark?”

“Shoot.”

“How did you find Peter?”

“Well, there was a competition that would allow a student from New York to work closely with me for the rest of their schooling, Peter happened to be that kid.”

The lies were rolling off his chest and Tony felt a tinge of guilt but if it meant preserving this kid’s identity and protecting him and his family, it was fine.

“The Stark Internship, once it ends I assume a dozen possibilities will open for Peter, what if he decides to  go another way?”

Another good question.

He turned to look at Peter—who was looking at his lap—and smiled almost fondly.

“Then that is entirely his choice and I’ll be completely accepting of that. He’s a good kid and I’d support and help him with anything he’d like to do.”

Peter’s eyes widened and looked at him, Tony nodded his head to make sure Peter knew he was serious. Not just with jobs but also with the Avengers, there was no way he’d let this kid go.

“Wow, that’s extremely generous of you, Mister Stark. I do have a few matters to discuss with you privately so if you don’t mind, Peter.” Ms Klements looked at him expectantly and almost chuckled at the way the kid blushed and scurried out of the room.

“He’s a good kid.”

“That he is,” Tony agreed, focusing on the young lady in front of him. She was very young, especially to already have achieved vice principal. Her hair was a healthy red, not dyed, he noticed and she still had plenty of years to go before she began to have wrinkles.

“If you don’t mind me forwardness, how old are you exactly, Mrs Klements?”

And she was married.

“Twenty-three,” She responded with a small smile as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

“I’m impressed.”

“Thank you Mister Stark, that’s no small compliment coming from you.”

He waved away the remark and settled further into the chair, crossing his legs.

“I do have something quite serious to discuss with you which I am positive you’re aware of but I’d like to bring it to your attention.”

“Of course,” Tony said with a nod. It seemed to relax her.

“Mister Parker has recently come out as transgender,” Mrs Klements said and Tony nodded his head in confirmation. “While he has received a lot of welcome and congratulations, he’s also received a few negative remarks and I know how much that can affect someone’s mindset.”

She sounded as though she spoke from experience.

“I understand.”

“I wanted to make a request and if you have time, perhaps you would be able to do it?” Mrs Klements said and Tony nodded once again. “Would you be open to coming in one day and giving a talk about transgender rights?”

The comment hit Tony smack in the face and his eyes widen. Mrs Klements saw this and looked guilty.

“You don’t have to, Mister Stark but I just thought that because you’re such an important figure and the younger generation really look up to you, that’d perhaps it would help out a lot?”

“No, no, of course, I’ll do it. You just shocked me a bit, is all,” Tony laughed breathlessly, “I’ll have to check when the best time is but I’ll be in contact.”

Mrs Klements beamed, “Thank you, Mister Stark.”

He walked out of the room, shook her hand, and said goodnight to her. The sun had already set and Tony was sure Aunt May would want Peter home by now.

He hopped in the driver’s seat of the car and waited until Peter was strapped into the passenger seat, and then they took off. 

It was silent for a few minutes but Peter asked, “Would we be able to go back to the compound? Aunt May’s working a night shift.”

Tony knew there was more to it than just that but he smiled and agreed.

“So long as you do your homework and assignments and maybe you can help me out with some projects.”

“Okay! Thank you, Mister Stark.”

“Kid, you can call me Tony.” He rolled his eyes at the formality, he’d known Peter for a few years now and it was completely unnecessary for him to be calling Tony, ‘Mister Stark’.

Peter didn’t respond.

They pulled up at the compound, most of the lights in the building still on.

“Oh, is Danny here yet?” Peter asked, trying to hide the fact that he really wanted to meet the man. Tony noticed the familiar glint in his eyes.

“Probably, we can go see if you want. Besides, you need dinner,” Tony replied, realising that Peter most likely hadn’t eaten for a few hours.

“So do you,” He argued back and Tony gave him a smile.

-

The kitchen was busy for a Tuesday night. Majority of the compound guests were there, all clumped together around one object.

“Ah, Lady Jessica, it seems I have beat you again!”

Tony watched as Peter’s face lit up.

“Thor!”

The kid bounded over to the large Norse God and wrapped a hug around his shoulders.

“My mighty warrior, how have you been?”

Peter blushed, “Good, how’s Asgard?”

“Same as always, I’ve left Loki in charge, we’ll see if that bites me in the—”

“Thor, how long are you staying?”

“Until the next season's full moon.”

Tony hated when he answered like that but he nodded anyway and smiled. 

He grabbed a container of Chinese from the counter and patted Peter on the shoulder, “Come down whenever.”

He left the kitchen with the sounds of laughter and shouting slowly drowning out under the noise of his thoughts.

He had lost track of the number of people that called the compound home. Over the year, people with special abilities have flocked to the Avengers Initiative and Tony loved having new people but it made him feel crowded and even more alone because they weren’t there for him. Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce cared, Thor did too, in his own way, and perhaps some others but they all had someone else while Tony only had him and his bots. Rhodey and Carol, Pepper and Happy, Bruce and Thor. It wasn’t the same.

“Oof—” Tony hit a solid chest and expected to see Luke, not a certain ex-assassin.

“Sorry.” Tony scratched his neck awkwardly, “Didn’t see you there.”

“My fault,” Barnes replied and his voice was surprisingly rough, “Should have been watching where I was going.

Tony nodded.

Barnes stepped around him and began walking down the hall Tony just came from.

“Hey, Barnes?” The soldier looked at him, “Come down tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have a look at your arm.”

Bucky smiled gently, “That’d be great, Stark.”

They went their separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick question:  
> i have a new fanfic that i've started writing and i really want to post it for you guys but at the same time, should i just wait until i finish this fic?


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuri and Tony are up to something.  
> Barnes arm sucks, Tony wants to fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooooooow  
> I'm honestly so annoying because as soon as I finish writing a chapter, I'm like, post it!  
> Here you go.  
> Enjoy and lemme know what you think

**Chapter Eleven**

“Theoretically,” Shuri began, “The virus would allow you to interface with technology with just a thought.” Shuri’s arms moved wildly. Tony nodded along with her words.

“Is it safe, though?”

“Not in it’s current state. Aldrich Killian was extremely close to unlocking the full potential of the virus but it’s still unbalanced and dangerous to the human body. There is so much more potential that can be unlocked, healing factors, the ability to change a persons appearance and genetic code. Tony, this virus is well beyond its years.”

Tony smiled, “What would you say to coming down to New York and helping me with it?”

“With Extremis?”

“Yeah,” Tony said. He was sitting in his seat in front of FRIDAY’s projection, his arms crossed and legs swinging absently across the ground.

“We’d have to make a completely new dosage, unless you somehow managed to figure out the exact properties that went into making the virus.”

Tony chuckled, “Pepper may have allowed me to extract the virus from her and keep it.”

Shuri’s mouth dropped open, “I’ll be there Thursday afternoon.”

“Perfect, take care kid.”

Before disconnecting the call, Tony heard thewhispered reply of Shuri, “I’m not a kid, old man.”

He smiled absently as he turned back around to his workbench and read over his jobs. 

 

  * __Captain America_ _  
_ _New suits—stealth, winter, and shock absorbtion, more movement, less tearing, prevents bleeding and wound infections(?)_ _  
_ _New shields—black(?), thinner(?), ability to call back_ _  
_ __New weapons—grenades, guns, dagger(?)_


  * _Black Widow_ _  
_ _New suits—stealth, winter, summer, lighter, more durability and movement, no highheels (honestly what the fuck? Why does S.H.I.E.L.D keep adding high heels to her suits?), hand and feet grips for better climbing_ _  
_ _New weapons—photostatic veil, spider-bites, hooks and ropes, guns, grenades, pepper spray_ _  
_ _More storage—somehow make the suit able to hold multiple weapons and equipent, perhaps she can have a backpack?_ _  
_ __New phone(?)—make it able to directly download any information needed for missions?


  * _Falcon_ _  
_ _New suits—stealth, lighter, higher, maybe a masker in case he wants to go super high and can’t breath, does he need more storage?_



 

_ New wings—honestly, what are those wings he has? A halloween costume, they’re pathetic _ _   
_ _ New weapons—guns, grenades, taser, maybe I could get him a pet falcon _

 

  * __Hawkeye_ _  
_ _New suits—stealth, lgihter, more movement, more durability, less tearing, maybe something kinky_ _  
_ _New weapons—new bow, better arrows, like some exploding ones, better exploding ones though__


  * _Ant-Man_ _  
_ _New suits—idk, I think hank makes suits for him, maybe I’ll run some ideas by him?_ _  
_ _New weapons—^^_


  * _Spider-man_ _  
_ _New suits—stealth, tear-proof, what does this kid do, why does he always have tears? I think Ned wants a suit, no weapons or anything but Peter keeps letting him try it on so like, I’ll give him his own? Better binder too, the kid needs to breath, maybe a deeper voice modify, not sure_ _  
_ _New weapons—not giving him any guns, maybe he can have a dagger?_ _  
_ _New backpack—where do they all go?_ _  
_ __New web formula—stickier? Able to hold more weight and lasts longer?


  * _Winter Soldier_ _  
_ _New suits_ _  
_ _New weapons_ _  
_ _More storage_ _  
_ _New phone_ _  
_ __New arm



 

Tony sighed and lowered his head into his hand, one by one, he ticked off everything he had completed which only left… twenty-three more things to make. He could probably complete them by the end of the week.

“Sir?”

Tony hummed for FRIDAY to continue, he shoved the list inside a drawer and pulled the blueprints for Steve’s shield closer, looking over the ideas he had drawn up and editing a few of them.

“Sergeant Barnes is here to see you.”

Tony’s heart leapt.

“Let him in.”

Tony grabbed a few tools and watched as the doors slid open and the ex-assassin slid in. _ (stop calling him by that name) _

“Barnes, take a seat.”

The man nodded and sat uncomfortably on the stool next to Tony.

“Okay, so um, is there anything specific that’s causing trouble?”

Barnes watched his hands and Tony thought it odd how his mood seemed to flip everytime they saw each other.

“My fingers don’t move as easily.”

Tony nodded and grabbed a screwdriver, “I’ll have a look, lemme know if anything hurts.”

Tony began opening up the arm, one at the shoulder, one at the elbow, and one at the wrist. He tried to gently move through the wires, accidently hitting a few but Barnes made no sign that it hurt, except for the clenched fist that was tucked in his lap.

“Ah…” Tony whispered. He felt Barnes’ eyes turn on him and so he explained what he meant, “The wires in your wrist are starting to rust, which means that your brain isn’t receiving the messages from your fingers.”

He said and Barnes nodded in understanding, his eyes quickly went back to his lap.

“I can’t clean the wires without taking them out, and to do that I would need to completely remove the arm which would require surgery to take off and then surgery to reattatch and so there’s really no point in trying to fix this arm when I have a perfectly new one up and ready for you,” Tony rambled into Barnes’ ear and then paused, embarrased, “Sorry.”

Barnes shrugged with one arm, “It’s okay.”

“What do you wanna do?”

The man’s eyes widen, as if no one has ever asked him what he wanted.

Tony continued talking, “I know we’ve already discussed the surgery but that was before looking at the arm properly. I’ll give you a month before the whole thing stops working.”

“What do you suggest.”

Tony bit his lip, “My honest opinion?”

Barnes nodded slowly, as if he wasn’t sure he said the right thing.

“You’re arm is complete and utter shit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite the piece of work considering the time it was made but I’ve said it before, it has nothing compared to the technology we have now. If you were anybody else, I would make you have the surgery before the week is up but I’m not going to do that. It’s your decision.”

Barnes was silent and Tony suddenly felt as if he said too much or insulted the man, he wanted to take it all back.

“Okay.” Barnes’ words were quite and so he cleared his throat, “Move the surgery up.”

“Saturday?”

“Sounds good.”

Tony grinned, closed up the arm, gave Barnes a few suggestions (orders) on how to keep the arm functioning until Saturday and then watched as the men left.

He need to call his team.

Well, not really his team. His surgery buddies.

“FRIDAY, plug through Strange, Bruce, and Helen.”

“On it, boss.”

Tony swiveled on his chair as he waited, the projection in front of him displaying a bored Tony Stark in his workshop.

“Tony?” Bruce answered first, seemingly confused.

“Ah, there he is!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Tony assured, “I need to talk over a few things with you, Strange, and Helen.”

“Oh, the arm?” Bruce asked and Tony grinned in response.

“Yep,” He answered, popping the P, “The wires are completely fucked so we moved up the surgery.”

“Stark.”

“Tony, everything alright?”

Strange and Helen both began talking at the same time.

“Hullo Strange, Helen. Everything’ fine but the surgeries been moved up. It’s happening Saturday.”

Tony watched as all three displayed different emotions, Helen was controlled amusement, Bruce had something that looked like fear, and Strange was just angry.

“Stark, I’ve had no time to prepare, what if I’m busy that day, did you consider that?”

“I did, but FRIDAY’s checked and you have nothing on that day so no problems.”

“Stark,” Strange growled out which caused Tony to chuckle.

“Calm down Goatee Twin.”

Helen piped up, “Barnes is okay with this?”

“Yeah, he just left. He understands the risks of leaving the arm for too long.” Tony spun around on the chair as he waited for the next questIon.

“Is he still insisting on no aneasthesia?” Bruce asked, biting his lip and leaning forward in his seat.

“As far as I know, yes.”

Three collective sighs echoed around the lab.

“I know,” Tony said and held up his hands innocently, “But this is his arm and I want to make him as comfortable as possible.”

“Didn’t he…” Helen trailed off, looking down in shame but Tony chose to ignore where that sentence was going and continued spinning on his chair.

“I’ll need you guys to arrive a day early, if that’s no problem?”

“I can probably get there midday Thursday, I’m in Monaco right now but I’m all finished up,” Bruce said, there was some scuffling of papers on his side of the call and Tony assumed he was moving files around.

“I’ll get someone to fly a quinjet over,” Tony said, “FRIDAY, how long will it take to reach Bruce?”

“Three and a half hours, leaving at 1330 and arriving in Monaco Airport at 1700.”

Tony grinned at his amazing AI.

“You alright getting to the airport, big guy?”

“Not a problem, Tony,” Bruce answered, disappearing from sight and coming back a few moments later, “See you in a bit.”

The call disconnected from Bruce’s end.

“Helen, when can you get here?”

“I’m busy all Thursday and have an apoointment Friday but I should be able to get there lunchtime?”

“Alright fantastic,” Tony clapped his hands together, “Need a lift?”

“I should be okay, thanks Tony.” She disconnected the call and Tony began to speak.

“Strange—”

“Now,” Strange’s voice came from behind Tony, causing him to jump out of his chair and grip the bench.

“What the fuck, dude?”

Strange shrugged as the portal closed behind him.

“Fucking magic,” Tony whipsered and by the rise of Strange’s lips, the man heard him, “FRIDAY, where’s Strange staying?”

The AI began talking to Strange as the wizard walked out of the workshop.

“You’re staying on Level 4, East Wing, Room 25D.”

Tony sat back on his chair and spun around again, calculating the variables of everything that could go wrong and ways to prevent it. If everything went okay, Barnes would have a flashy new arm by Saurday night.

“FRIDAY, let’s go over Project Winter’s Bite again.”


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bruce comes home  
> tony stark feels?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit, this is my shortest chapter yet and I feel like I haven't posted in months!!!!  
> I'm super duper sorry, this is like only 1000 words lmao, so super short but I have assignments and exams coming up plus I'm going to Sydney in a few days so woooo  
> I also wanna let you guys know I posted a oneshot of Winteriron, it's pretty angsty? some fluff? but go check it out and lemme know what you think  
> anyway, enjoy the chapter hoes xxx

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Bruce arrived at eight o’clock that Wednesday night. Tony almost squealed at his arrival which caused a few eyebrows to rise, mostly Barnes’—the team must not have told him about the relationship they shared.

“Brucie! How’s it hanging?” Tony hung an arm over Bruce’s shoulder end lead him out of the kitchen, may as well show him where he was staying. 

Bruce chuckled, “Not bad Tony. Things seem, interesting…”

“Ah, yeah,” Tony said and smiled sheepishly, “That’s a story for another time.”

Tony desperately wanted to avoid that conversation, Bruce hadn’t been back for some time and wasn’t exactly aware of the ‘Civil War’ and all the events that, unfolded.

But then Bruce sent him  _ that _ look and he folded in on himself.

“It’s been difficult, Brucie,” He said, shoving open the door of Bruce’s room and taking the unspoken invitation to sit on the large green bed in the middle of the room—what other colour would it be?

“Yeah? What’s happened since I left, I’ve only heard snippets of the news. Surprisingly, Kullorsuaq doesn’t contain much internet connection.”

Tony shrugged, “You really wanna know?”

“Yes, Tony.”

He took a deep breath and stared down at his hands, “After Ultron, it took a while to restart the motions of everything but we started going on missions again and trying our best to help, as always. Ross—” Bruce shrunk down and Tony laid a comforting hand on his leg, “Sorry. Ross came to us and said that the public’s opinion was divided and superheroes and humans had been allowed to do what they wanted for too long. Which, yeah I get that and it sounded fair enough so I signed and others did too. But,” Tony whispered, “It all went wrong, Bruce. There was an explosion and the King of Wakanda died as well as others and all the evidence led to Steve’s friend, James Barnes. What else were we supposed to think? It wasn’t him though but we realised too late and Zemo had unleashed the Winter Soldier which fueled the fight so much more and there was this whole thing in the airport and majority of Roger’s team was locked away. I just, I needed all the facts and Rogers had said at the airport that there were more soldiers like Barnes and I couldn’t let that possibly be true so I went to Siberia and…” Tony’s breath caught in his throat, “And it was a trap… Zemo wasn’t even wanting to use the soldiers, he just wanted to punish the Avengers. Bruce…”

“Hey,” Bruce rubbed his back gently, “What is it?”

Tony looked up with glistening eyes and whispered, “He killed my parents.”

The words didn’t rise above a whisper, as though Tony was too afraid that if he spoke them any louder, something terrible would happen. It was enough that Bruce could feel the other guy threatening to rise to the surface.

“Zemo?”

Tony shook his head, “Barnes or the Winter Soldier. He didn’t mean to and I know that now but for thirty years of my life, I believed that my mother and father were killed in a car accident. Do you know how it feels to have that blanket ripped away from you? Sure, I didn’t exactly believe that my father could be so easily killed in something as simple as a car crash but the facts were there and I had no reason to doubt it. Then I find out that not only was the man that murdered them standing right behind me but my best—” Tony inhaled, “My teammate knew and he didn’t tell me. I couldn’t control myself, I blacked out for a majority of it and only really woke up when Rogers and Barnes were walking away.”

Neither of them really spoke once Tony finished, his emotions were running high and Bruce was just trying to digest all the information.

“Shit.”

Tony snorted, “Brucie, watch that tongue of yours.”

He knocked against the other man in a friendly manner but stayed to his side when Bruce pulled him in for a hug.

“And they’re back now?”

Tony nodded.

“What changed?”

“We need them, the world needs the Avengers again. Plus, I read through the first lot of Accords and some of the regulations on that are truly messed.”

“Can I read them?” Bruce asked and Tony smiled because it was still the same old Bruce, all the facts and information.

“Of course, FRIDAY?”

“Already completed, sir.”

“That’s my girl.” Tony smiled and nuzzled into Bruce’s shirt, they weren’t anything romantic but Bruce understood him on a level that most didn’t. He could see through Tony’s pathetic attempts to deter a conversation and he knew when Tony was hurting and when Tony was really being nice even if it came across rude. He was within Tony’s top three best friends, Rhodey first—obviously—and then Pepper.

“I’ll let you settle in, Helen should be getting here Friday afternoon and then we’ll have a little meeting that night and surgery can begin bright and early Saturday morning!” Tony clapped his hands together.

Bruce rolled his eyes and shook his head.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bruce, helen, stephen, and tony plan the surgery  
> bucky and tony have a heart to heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow  
> its been like a month  
> i'm so sorry lmao  
> anywayyyyyy this is a pretty long chapter so i hope you guys enjoy it  
> comment and kudo!!!!!

**Chapter Thirteen**

The quinjet set itself down graciously on the landing pad. The back ramp lowered and one Helen Cho stepped off in white stiletto heels carrying a binder of documents in her arms.

“Doctor Cho, a pleasure to meet you again.” Doctor Strange offers his hand, which she graciously shakes with a tight-lipped smile.

“Indeed.”

Tony narrows his eyes at the pair, “You’ve met before?”

“Indeed, Mister Stark,” Strange replied and Tony was positive he was trying to get a rise from him, “She helped assist me in a surgery three years back.”

“Ah…”

“Bruce, how are you?”

“As good as I can ever be,” Bruce replied and smiled genuinely at her. Tony remembered them hitting it off at one of the Avengers party. Was it the one before Ultron?

Helen smiled.

“Helen! How was the flight? Comfortable?”

“A bit too bumpy for my liking.”

“That’s part of the fun,” Tony said and she huffed, bringing a hand up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. It was impeccably styled in a complex bun and it reminded him of the hairstyles Peggy and his mother used to do.

“I’ll show you to your room if you’d like?”

“That’d be great, Tony.” Helen walked beside him, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. Stephen and Bruce split off and headed to the common room, or wherever.

“We’re having a German night, tonight. You’re welcome to join, I can’t guarantee how many people will actually be there, probably just filtering in and out.”

Helen sent him an understanding look, things were rocky and everyone was still figuring out where they fit in the compound.

“I might just finish off these documents in my room,” She lifted the binder slightly, “And then we can have our meeting? What time were you thinking?”

“Not too late, I’m sure we’ll need our beauty sleep but probably around seven?”

“That’s not a problem then.” Helen stopped in front of her door, “I’ll be called down by, uh…” Helen trailed off and Tony knew what she was thinking. 

“FRIDAY will call you down. See you in a bit.” Tony cleared his throat and casually waved her off. 

He turned his back and heard the door close after a bit. He visibly sagged his shoulders and blinding walked to the workshop. It felt like his only place of comfort lately.

He knew he was resorting back to his toxic way of dealing with problems but Pepper was away and Rhodey was busy with military and he had no one else to set him back on track. So, he locked the workshop and spent his hour's cleaning, building, and occasionally mulling over nothing until FRIDAY let him know that it was ten minutes until seven and Helen, Bruce, and Stephen had all been made aware.

He promptly downed his coffee, slapped his thigh rather hardly, and gathered his prototype before heading towards the conference room to find he was the last one.

“Who’s ready to rock and roll?” He asks, slamming the arm (not really, his poor prototype) down onto the table.

The sound of chairs sliding smoothly along wooden floors was the only noise in the room for a second until they all comfortably settled into position and Helen clasped her hands together.

“So this is everything so far?”

Tony looked offended, “Of course not, Helen. I am a genius, not some slum.”

Helen had the decency to look slightly apologetic, the other part was just amused. She did that on purpose.

“Where’s the rest?” Stephen asked and Tony was thankful for the opportunity to flaunt his blueprints.

“FRIDAY, bring up Project Winter’s Bite, if you may.”

Tony’s ideas and files and research popped up in holograms in front of the table. He allowed them all some time to read through everything before starting to talk.

“The arm is basically eighty-percent built, I just need to smooth out some things. A big issue is the neuroscience of it all. I’ve had FRIDAY watch Barnes’ arm since he has arrived and from what we can both tell, it’s wired into his nerves and brain system. To take the arm off and replace it, we’d need to take out HYDRAs web but there are obviously many complications with that. Strange, that’s where I need your help.”

The wizard nodded and glanced through the files again.

“You said he doesn’t want anaesthesia?” Strange asked and Tony nodded. “Okay, would he be fine with me casting spells on him?”

“I’d have to check that over with him.”

“Well, why don’t you call him up?” Helen suggested.

Bruce shared a glance with Tony, the question clear in his eyes, comforted the scientists by smile gently.

“FRIDAY, can you ask whether Barnes is free?”

There was a pause, “He is, sir.”

“Is he willing to come here for a bit?”

“On his way now.”

It took about three minutes and twenty-six seconds for Barnes to reach the conference room, FRIDAY alerted them before he barged in.

“Sergeant Barnes, an honour to meet you,” Helen said gently, shaking his hand and just barely containing her gushing fanatics. Tony never knew she was a fan of Captain America’s sidekick.

“Thanks, Miss…?” Barnes trails off.

“Doctor Helen Cho, I’ll be helping with your surgery.”

“Glad t’ know.”

Strange pushed his chair back and rounded the table, “Doctor Stephen Strange, I’ll be in measuring your brain activity, keeping it normal and all that technical stuff.”

Tony’s eyes widened.  _ Stuff? _ He was almost certain Stephen had never said the word stuff in all his years of living, it was simply not in the man's vocabulary. But looking at him now, sitting on the conference room, his arms crossed, and a voice sounding way to casual for a man of many degrees, Tony realised that it was an act. More specifically, an act for Barnes.

“I’ve heard you don’t want to use anaesthetic.”

Barnes nodded, eyes flicking to Tony before flicking back to Stephen.

“Shouldn’t be a problem, however, I have an alternative,” Stephen said, “There’s a spell, it helps to subdue the mind but you’ll still be aware.”

“So, I’ll—I will still be awake?” Barnes asked and he had no right to sound so helpless at that moment.

“Yeah, still up and at them,” Stephen assured.

Barnes nodded, “Okay, okay, I can handle that.”

“Fantastic,’ Helen said and smiled, “Make sure you get your rest and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

Barnes headed out after everyone said their goodbyes.

“Well, that went well. Lovely man.” Helen crossed her legs and Stephen hummed in agreement. 

Bruce came over, laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder, and said, “I ought to head up and get some dinner. What time tomorrow?”

“We’ll have some breakfast and head to the operating theatre?”

“Sounds good.”

One by one, they filed out, Tony bringing up the back and splitting off as the rest went to the communal kitchen. He, however, went down to the lab, his mind blank but his body just acted on pure instinct.

His hands found the first thing on his workbench (a prototype for Peter’s new suit) and began working and working and working. He had no idea what he was doing except to make it bigger, better, faster, stronger, more damage proof. It went like that, design, create, scrap, design, create, scrap, design, create, improve, improve, improve…

“Boss?” 

Tony came to with FRIDAY calling his voice.

He set down his file and rubbed over his goatee, “Sorry FRIDAY, how long have I been working?”

“Six hours and forty-eight minutes.”

“Oh, wow.”

He hadn’t realised it was that long. It wasn’t exactly unusual for him to go into what Pepper called, ‘A Work High’ but it had been so long since the last time it happened, he just wasn’t expecting it.

“Boss, I would recommend heading up to the kitchen, there’s Indian in the fridge,” FRIDAY said to him, “No coffee.”

“Uh, FRI!” Tony threw his hands up, “Why did I build you?”

“You’d be lost without me.”

Tony laughed. That was true.

He did go to the kitchen though and he did eat the butter chicken (even if it was very clearly labelled CAROLS!). He looked longingly at his coffee machine but he could almost feel FRIDAY’s metaphorical eyes on him. So, he just avoided that area altogether.

He heated his butter chicken up and took a seat and the dining table but looking around, the compound felt too quiet and lonely and stuffy for just him. So he went to the second best spot, the helipad. It overlooked the forest on one side and from the other side could see the lights flickering from the city.

As soon as the doors open Tony was hit with the cool fresh 2 am air and he felt like he could breathe again.

Oh.

And there was Barnes.

His took a step back but stopped, Barnes most likely already knew he was up there and how would things ever get better if Tony kept avoiding him.

_ He murdered your parents. _

_ HYDRA murdered your parents, he was a puppet, a victim. Never blame the victim. _

Tony remembered the cold dead eyes of a man stuck in time, lines by his eyes from decades of control.

“Barnes, I should’ve expected a mysterious assassin like yourself up here.”

The man didn’t reply but Tony saw him adjusting ever so slightly.

“Naan?” Tony asked, holding out a piece of the bread.

“Thanks,” Bucky whispered, taking the bread and tearing off a corner side of it.

They sat on the edge of the helipad in silence until Tony couldn’t stand it any longer and his sleep-deprived body was bringing  _ those _ thoughts to the front of his mind.

“Listen this might be too forward but I’m not exactly known for subtly so, fuck it, am I right?” Tony looked to his side but got no response, so he kept going, “I should have said this earlier but I really don’t blame you. I mean, I did—for a bit. But I’ve uh, I’ve seen the videos and I’ve read the files and it would be ignorant of me to believe you’re the man that killed my parents.”

Tony paused.

“Wow, I’m sorry, that was kinda shit of me? I’m not great at these heart to hearts. Okay,” Tony said setting his curry down, “Let me start over.”

Deep breath.

“For forty years of my life, I blamed my father. Everyone told me that they were having a fight and my father was just a little too drunk and he swerved the car into the tree. I grew up my whole life hating him and then I find out it wasn’t his fault. Just, hear me out. My father was a piece of shit and I don’t forgive him for my childhood but at least he didn’t kill my mother. And I’m not saying that you’re to blame but Zemo showed us that video out of the blue and I—I didn’t know how to react. Just—” Tony turned to Barnes, who was still staring ahead at the forest, “I met Rogers in 2012 but I grew up hearing stories about how amazing and great Captain America is and maybe when I first met him, I wanted to be his friend even if we didn’t get on the right foot. Then after the New York attack, I was his friend, maybe more. But I fucked up and everything went downhill, I created a monster and then we had disagreements and then,” Tony sighed, “I found out that my friend knew what really happened to my parents and he kept it from me for two years. I lashed out and I don’t really have an excuse for that but I’ve had a year to regroup, I guess. I’ve seen the files and videos from HYDRA and I know you had no say in what you did over the decades. I don’t blame you, Barnes and I’m sorry for everything you’ve gone through.”

Whether the moon was shining a certain way or perhaps the wind was too hard on Barnes’ eyes but when Tony looked at his face he would swear on his company’s grave that a tear dropped from the mans eye.

They sat in silence for a bit, Tony eventually turned to face the forest settling with the comforting fact that if nothing else, Barnes was thinking about it.

“Why are some stars are blue and some are yellow?”

Oh wow, Tony wasn’t expecting that but he welcomed the change in subject.

“It’s actually pretty interesting you see—”

If Tony stayed on the helipad with Barnes for another hour or more, it was no one's business.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bucky goes through surgery  
> the team encounters an unexpected problem  
> some more tony and bucky bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> been a while  
> hope you enjoy this chapter  
> im trying super hard to not make them friends straight away bc they have unresolved conflict but im kind of like screw it  
> i might just make them have a bunch of bonding sessions  
> maybe some heart to hearts  
> let me know what you think

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

It was a slow Saturday morning. Tony hadn’t gotten much sleep and the coffee cupped between his hands was barely soothing his mind. Everyone else was fine but the morning was slow nevertheless. 

FRIDAY had cleared out two levels below and above for the day, just in case. Bruce and Helen had finished their breakfast and were discussing how they could attach the arm and connect it to his nerve receptors to create the most artificially ‘realistic’ prosthetic possible. They pulled resources from both HYDRAs research, the Extremis Virus, and S.H.I.E.L.Ds database. Tony zoned them out after five minutes of their mumbling.

Stephen had excused himself and gone outside to ‘meditate’ and ‘keep his magic at ease and smooth’ so that Bucky ‘wouldn’t feel any discomfort’. Tony didn’t care too much, so long as Barnes didn’t have a freakout.

Speaking of, Barnes was currently sitting straight as a stick on the compound balcony. Tony glanced over at the man and chewed at his lip, thinking whether or not to take a coffee over.

Bruce caught his eye and vaguely motioned in Bucky’s direction which was all he needed to move from the stool to the coffee machine and begin brewing a steamy mug of pitch black.

“Wasn’t sure if you took it with milk or sugar so I brought some over.” 

He slid the balcony door shut with his foot and placed down Barnes’ coffee, along with the milk and sugar.

The man looked surprised which was a pretty common facial expression lately.

“Thanks,” Barnes responded and began drinking. Ah, okay.

Tony, himself preferred his coffee sweet and milky, if he was going to drink the shit 24/7 it could at least taste good. He liked to put extra foam on top.

“How are you feeling?”

Barnes shrugged, “I trust you.”

“Glad to hear it, but that’s not what I asked.” Perhaps it was a bit harsh but Tony didn’t want to make this any harder than it had to be. Plus, he was all about extending olive branches. If the time called for it.

“I feel…” There was a long pause, “I feel like something will go wrong.”

“It probably will but that’s why we have the best doctors and safety procedures in place. We’re going to make sure no one gets hurt, I can promise you that.”

Barnes nodded.

They sat in silence, the wind blew through Barnes’ hair and made Tony’s eyes water. Their coffee was still hot but nearly empty and their bellies were too.

“James come and eat, Tony you too!” Helen slid open the door and called them inside.

The pair shared a glance but did what they were told.

Helen flipped a pancake, Bruce leaned over and poured some more tea into his mug whilst murmuring to himself, Stephen sat down next to Tony and sighed while at the same time Barnes took the seat on Tony’s right.

It was a slow kind of Saturday morning.

*****

“FRIDAY, checklist?”

Tony swivelled on his chair but kept his focus on Barnes.

“Ready, sir.”

“Alright,” He sighed, “OR Integration Systems?”

“Check.”

“MRI?”

“Check.”

“Heart rate monitor?”

“Check.”

“Badass music playlist?”

There was brief hesitation, “Check.”

Tony smiled and Barnes snorted.

“Are you judging me, Barnes?”

“Depends on what music you’re listening to,” He snarked back and even strapped to a table, he was trying to remain calm.

“None of the shit you listened to in the ’40s,” Tony replied and did one last spin on his seat before getting up and walking over to Barnes.

“Good, don’t need to hear any more of that music.”

“I’m surprised, I heard you were a real dancer back in the day, thought you would appreciate it a bit more?” Tony asked, coming up to lean against the table in front of Barnes, was this flirting?”

“Did it to charm the dames, trying something different this time.”

It felt an awful lot like flirting.

“Let me know how that goes for you.”

“Oh, I will.”

Bruce cleared his throat, “We’re all done with the brain scans.”

“And I’m nearly finished with the spell.”

“Excellent, FRIDAY has the arm been looked over?”

“Did a thorough check just then, sir, everything appears to be in order.”

“And by that, she means everything is perfect.”

“Of course I did, sir.”

Tony glanced at the camera and glared but when he turned his back and put his head down, he couldn’t stop the smile from creeping up onto his lips.

“Let’s rock and roll.”

FRIDAY was ready for the cue and began playing ‘Iron Man’ by Black Sabbath through the theatre room.

“That’s ma girl.”

Tony ignored the eye rolls and huffs of irritation and grabbed his tools, sliding over to Barnes left arm. The Hydra arm.

“You good? You relaxed?” Tony asked, checking up on Barnes with a quick glance to the monitors.

“Can’t feel a thing…” He slurred in response but his eyes were wide and alert. It was al the confirmation Tony needed to begin working on the arm.

He began opening the panels in the arm while Stephen moved around the monitors of Barnes brain. Bruce sat beside Tony, being a second pair of eyes and Helen begin preparing the new arm.

When the panel flicked open and Tony managed to have a good look, he noticed multiple important factors.

  1. The wires were coroded and rusted.
  2. The elements used were poisonous and it was a wonder the infection hadn’t eaten up Barnes’ health.
  3. The arm was not attached ‘attached’ like Tony had thought, but it was placed underneath the remiaing skin, leading all the way up to the beginning of his neck and first rib. 



“We’ve got a problem,” He murmured but everyone heard it.

Helen was the first to speak, “What kind of problem?”

“The arm extends further then we thought,” Tony said, “It travels from here all the way to here.” He trailed his fingers along Barnes arm, stopping and pointing at the area.

“How did you not realise this before?” Stephen, of course, was the first to reprimend.

“I’m not sure, none of our scans showed up the remaining metal, we didn’t do a full on check of the arm. FRIDAY scanned it for any issues but we weren’t about to fucking x-ray the man without his permission.”

Bruce moved Tony to the side the peered into the arm, “How good is this spell, Doctor Strange?”

“Right now, it feels like Barnes is taking a relaxing bath.”

“Good, I’m not saying this will work and I’m not sure how much blood loss Barnes can withstand—”

“—A lot,” Barnes interrupted with a hum, Bruce nodded.

“What we can do is make an incision here and here,” He pointed, “Then lift the layer of skin and muscle up, retract the arm, sew it together.”

Tony scrunched his face up, that didn’t seem medically accurate.

“Helen?”

She winced, “It’s not the most pleasant or popular of surgeries but if we can stabilise him and keep his vitals up, we should be able to remove the arm without anymore complications.”

“Alright,” Tony agreed, “Let’s begin.”

He got out of his chair to move for Helen and Stephen to come through, they communicated together for a bit before Helen took a pen, made some marks, and then picked up the scalpel.

(warning: mentions of gore)

Now, Tony had seen his fair share of blood and gore but he wasn’t quite prepared for the horror of blood oising out of Barnes shoulder and the skin being so easily cut through.

“Doctor Banner, hook him up.”

Bruce moved forward with Type B blood and slung it up, quickly and easily finding the vein and inserting the needle, the blood flowed through the tubes until it disappeared into Barnes’ arm.

“Vitals are fluctuating.” 

Helen nodded at FRIDAY’s words, “Tony, measure brain activity.”

Tony leaned over to the monitors and looked over the moving images and numbers.

“So far so good, brain activity is relaxed, no sign of waking any time soon.”

“Good. Doctor Strange, guide me through this.”

Stephen began giving her clear instructions on how to cut the skin and carefully peel it upwards.

When she was finished, all four of them widened their eyes at the sight of the metal.

It was curved slightly inwards, digging into his muscles and bones to keep from being ripped off.

“Tony, I think this if your time to shine.”

“I’m always shining, Helen,” He said but took a seat in front of the arm and reached for his pliers.

He took hold of a piece of metal, gently pulled outwards until it dislodged itself from Barnes body, he continued to slowly bend the metal outwards until it was loose enough for Tony, with Bruce’s help, to pull away from shoulder.

And then the rain came.

It was like the plug had been pulled out and the water was rushing down the drain, Barnes body began bleeding.

“Vitals are rising.”

Calm before the storm.

“We need to sew his skin back,” Stephen said ever so calmly, Tony didn’t say anything about the slightly high way he said it.

Helena and Stephen sat down and began working.

Tony continued to talk with FRIDAY and watch the monitors of Barnes’ vitals, calling out comands and tips to Helen every so often.

Bruce replaced the blood bags and handed any tools Stephen needed.

It was an hour of that shit.

Stabilising and then losing control of Barnes’ vitals and fluctuating and lowering and highering.

Until finally, they got it under control.

It was disgusting.

Tony was definitely not going to be offered a job as a surgeon any time soon, that was for sure.

“How’s it looking?” Barnes asked and Tony remembered for the first time in forever that he was aware of the whole thing.

“Like pumpkin pie.”

“That good, huh?”

Tony chuckled and moved over to the man, laying a hand on his right shoulder, “We removed the arm but you need to rest before we attach the new one. Plus,” Tony looked around sheepishly, “We have new information that we need to discuss.”

Barnes nodded lazily.

Bruce replaced the blood bag with a fresh one. Helen and Stephen washed the hands and arms, replacing their olds gloves and scrubs with some new ones. Tony and Bruce followed suit.

“Sergeant Barnes is stabilising but will need to be placed on a drip and allowed to rest for the following week. Regular hydration, meals, and exercise is recommended. Would you like me to notify Captain Rogers, sir?”

“No! God, no. Not until I can effectively hide and shut the lab into black out mode.” Tony chuckled and moved over to the monitors.

“Tony…” Helen began, “We have a lot to discuss.”

“I know,” Ton agreed and sighed, “FRIDAY, Barnes’ room is prepared?”

“Yes boss.”

“Alright, let’s get him settled.”

******

When Barnes woke up, Tony was the first one notified and perhaps it should have been Steve or anyone else but Tony couldn’t help feeling responsible for the man.

And honestly, how fucked was that?

“Stark?” His voice was croaky and Tony immediately handed him a bottle of water.

“Hey there, Red October.”

Barnes shook his head and looked around until finally, he noticed the arm.

“Something happen?”

Tony took a seat, “Do you remember anything? Stephen said you wouldn’t remember much but I’m not sure, super soldier and all.”

“Nothin’, don’t remember nothin’.”

Tony scratched his neck, “The arm—” He didn’t know how to explain in the right words, “I thought the arm stopped at your shoulder but it went further. We had to pull it from your chest.”

“So that’s why it hurts like a son of a bitch?” Barnes joked.

“Yeah, that’s probably why,” Tony chuckled and moved closer to him, “Stephen says you’ll be in here for the rest of the week. It would have been longer but you know.”

“The rest of the week?”

“Well, not necessarily in this room but you’ll need to be resting and no ‘strenous’ activities.”

“That cancels out all my plans,” Barnes joked again, “What am I gonna do with all my time?”

“I’m sure Steve will visit,” Tony said.

Barnes’ face was masked so Tony couldn’t exactly tell what he was thinking.

“I’ll leave you be, you should probably be able to get out of ‘here’,” Tony gestured around the temporary hospital room, “By the end of the day. We closed this floor so you shouldn’t have to see anyone you don’t want, let FRIDAY know if you need anything.”

Tony went to leave but Barnes called him back.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” He said, “Everybody thought the arm stopped at the shoulder, not your fault.”

“Yeah,” Tony sighed, “I guess not. Uh, get some rest.”

The door shut with a bang and a soft click, Barnes listened to the footsteps travel down the hall and couldn’t help thinking that perhaps an unlikely friendship was going to start.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> steve wants his best friend to be okay  
> bucky finally gets his new arm  
> tonys a nervous wreck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  
> new year, new me  
> which means, i'm going to start updating more consistently!  
> yay  
> this book is gonna be so long by the way, like i was thinking it through and theres probably gonna be thirty chapters  
> double yay

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

“How are you?” Is the first thing Steve says when he enters the room. Bucky is up and eating some cereal, watching from his window as people ran across the lawn of the compound. In his mind, he made little stories to go with each of them.

For example, Bucky watched as a young girl, maybe seventeen, wandered across the lawn with a handful of books and a strap of her bag slung over one shoulder. Her hair was out and she had it parted in the side, it was brown, darker at the roots and lighter at the ends. Her skin was pale and she was dressed in jeans and a blazer, sleeves rolled up. He imagined that she was enhanced, living at the compound, studying and training until she was finally able to be a hero and maybe today she had just finished a class and was going back to her room to study.

The man, walking the opposite way, a hair lighter in colour than Steve’s but his eyes were more of Tony’s brown. He was built strong but the body of a runner. He had biking pants on with an Adidas tank top. Bucky told himself that the man was an agent of the compound and he was on his way to the running track, perhaps getting ready for a competition this week.

Bucky liked people watching, he liked thinking about the mundane things people did.

“Hey Bucky, you okay?”

Bucky startled as Steve laid a hand on his right shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking?”

“What about?”

“Remember that time in 1936 when we snuck into that bar?”

“McArthur’s Pub?” Steve clarified, taking a seat at Bucky’s feet.

He nodded, “Yeah and they didn’t serve you any beer because you were a scrawny little Brooklyn boy?”

“Yeah, but you were allowed to drink on the house because you looked thirty in a nineteen-year-olds body and then I had to drag you home because you were too drunk to tell which way was left or right.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said and left the word to hang in the air. Times had changed. “Still reckon I could get free drinks now?”

“The Winter Soldier and Captain America walk into a bar? People would be telling that stories for years, we’d never have to pay for drinks again,” Steve laughed, his hand slapping Bucky’s boot to which Bucky responded by gently nudging his thigh.

“Oughtta take me out one night, hit the town, show me off to the ladies?”

“Yeah, we can head out sometime but I’m a taken man now, Buck, can’t be seen flirting with the dames.”

Bucky nodded his head, Sam Wilson was the envy of all the single men and women, he managed to snag Captain America with a smile and a nod.

The two lost pals sat in silence for some time until FRIDAY interrupted.

“Pardon me, Captain Rogers but you’re wanted for training.”

“Of course, I’ll be just a moment.” Steve glanced upwards, turning his head to find the AI’s camera, “Hey Bucky?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m proud of us, we might be a couple of old men but we’ve survived this long.”

“Yeah, we have.”

Steve stood up, “See you ‘round, you’ll be outta here in no time.”

Bucky smiled, it was a little forced but he smiled nonetheless and waited until the door closed and he heard the elevator go down.

“Any messages for me, FRIDAY?”

The AI responded after a pause, “Not at the moment, Sergeant.”

He nodded his head and busied himself with tasks.

First, he read the paper. He couldn’t remember the last time he read a paper, it was all muddled in his heads.

He read one when he was five and his dad had brought one home.

Oh! He read one when he was fifteen, on the coffee table of some dames house while he pulled his shirt back over his head, he remembered how the headlines scream,  _ ‘YANKEES TAKE THE WIN!’ _

Then there was the time when the war first started,  _ ‘NAZIS SAY ALLIES INVADING AT HAVRE!’ _

Did he read during the war, didn’t he?  _ ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE PEOPLE’S PERSON.’ _

When was the last time he read one?

His handler had slapped a tattered newspaper clipping on the table in front of him, grinning ear to ear.

“You did, asset.”

_ ‘HOWARD AND MARIE STARK DIE IN CAR ACCIDENT’ _

Did he do that?

As he glanced at the coloured newspaper in his hand, memories each piling up and over each other, each one wanting to be remembered, he couldn’t help thinking about how bright the colours seemed.

“FRIDAY, any messages?”

“No sir-” The AI cut off, “Mister Stark will meet you in the kitchen.”

Bucky slapped the newspaper down and took off for his private kitchen, the memories momentarily being shoved to the back of his mind.

“Stark?” He asked, peeking around the wall.

The billionaire sat comfortably on the couch, Doctor Banner, Doctor Strange, and Doctor Cho all stood around him, arms crossed.

“Ah, there’s the star of the show,” Stark announced and if Bucky couldn’t help noticing the tightness around his smile, he’d say the man was a long lost friend.

But they weren’t friends.

“Stark, Doctors,” Bucky addressed everyone politely, they greeted him back. “FRIDAY said you wanted to see me?”

“We’ve looked at the arm and taken so many safety precautions that we put the Apple’s Terms and Services to shame,” He joked but Bucky didn’t quite get it and if Doctor Banner’s eye roll was anything to go off, he didn’t necessarily want to understand it. “Anyway, the arm is ready and as soon as you want it, we can put it on, no surgery or hassles.”

“Now.” Bucky was abrupt but he needed the arm.

“OKAY,” Stark exclaimed, “Um, let me clear my schedule and you can come down to the workshop in, let’s say, two hours?”

Bucky nodded.

“Bruce, you free?”

“Sorry Tons, I’m heading over to Saint Lucia to do some work.”

Stark nodded, “Helen? Stephen?”

“I’ve got a surgery tomorrow.” Was Doctor Strange’s answer.

“I should head back to work too, sorry Tony.”

“Alright, leave me then,” Stark joked but Bucky knew. He knew because he remembers doing the same back when he was in Brooklyn, using humour to cover the fear and loneliness.

Stark turned to him, “I’ll get FRIDAY to call you down.”

And that was that.

******

Tony spent four hours, fifty-nine minutes, and twenty-one seconds cleaning his workshops and working on other, quote,  _ ‘important things that can’t be pushed back because they need to be finished, FRI.’ _

When Tony was finally ready to call Barnes down to the workshop, he had sorted his tools and equipment into alphabetical order, managed to finally preorder more inventory for his workshop, helped FRIDAY to organise his list of jobs from most important to least. Only after all that, was he finally ready to call Barnes down to the workshop.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of the Soldier— _ ”that wasn’t the reason, FRI” _ —he’d had many moments alone with Barnes and multiple heart-to-hearts, but this was going to be different. He was going to be up close with the arm that killed his parents. Which was stupid because he worked on the arm the other day.

“Sir, if I may?” FRIDAY asked and when Tony nodded his head for her to continue, she said, “It’s completely reasonable that you have linked negative connotations to Sergeant Barnes’ arm, even if you worked on it the first time. Often, these emotions will rise up when persons are overwhelmed or stressed and the human brain tends to exaggerate certain features. The fact that you are feeling uncomfortable by being so close to an object that has past emotions and memories of a traumatic event is nothing out of the ordinary and simply means you are reacting how any human would. As an Artificial Intelligence who has the interweb at my disposal, it is in your best interest to go through with repairs scheduled for today and create new connotations for Sergeant Barnes’ arm. To mend a broken memory can be the most magnificent event of all.”

After that, he called Barnes down and swivelled in his chair into the workshop doors slid open and the Sergeant stood awkwardly in the entrance.

He cleared his throat, “You, ahem, FRIDAY called me down?”

“Yeah.” Tony waved him over, “I can install your arm now.”

“I thought it was going to be a few more days?”

“Well, while you were out for the rest of the twenty-first century—” Tony was going to continue when Barnes snorted louder than an F-22 Raptor and he had to stop mid-sentence.

“Sorry,” He said sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it.  What I was going to say is that I looked into the arm some more and designed one that I can attach without surgery. It’s designed with nanotech and—” Tony spun around the workshop on his chair, grabbing supplies and tools while Barnes took a seat on the stool set up for him, “—it will provide a couple advancements.”

And then, because Tony was nervous, he started rambling, “My suits made out of the same thing actually. Shuri, you’ve met Shuri?”

Barnes nodded, watching the anxious genius prance around.

“Of course you have. Brilliant mind on that girl, she gives me a run for my money, quite literally too because I’m pretty sure Wakanda owns twice as much as I do and I was Forbes richest ten years in a row.”

Tony moved from one side of the workshop, over to where Barnes was seated. He clutched the tiny black box tighter, inside was Barnes arm and Tony prayed that it would work out.

“Anyway, she helped me design this. Funny story actually—” Tony awkwardly moved Barnes with his hands, “I first met Shuri after some stubborn willed young lady commented on one of my interviews, explaining how to better one of my inventions. I was taken aback at first but I tried what she said and hell, it worked even better than I thought. So, I got FRIDAY to contact her and we talked, didn’t know who she was until the first time we chatted and found out, she’s the Princess of Wakanda and better yet, the leader of their Design Group. We’re talking for a few weeks and I guess I’m complaining about my suit and she tells me about nanotech and ‘course I know about nanotech but never really thought to use it. She shows me a few designs like the Black Panther suit and so we begin working on it.”

Barnes sits with his left arm to Tony and listens politely.

“And fucking hell, it’s probably my best suit yet. This was only a few weeks ago that we started building it and I’m not completely finished, mind you, but then last night I was staring at this piece of nanotech wondering how on Earth I was going to make an arm for you. And then bam! It hits me because duh, I have nanotech just waiting to be used. I spent pretty much all hours designing this for you.” Tony said and when he felt Barnes tense up, quickly assured him, “I wasn’t just working on your arm, I have a massive list of things that need to be done.” Tony opened the box and pulled out the chip, “You ready?”

Barnes nodded his head and grunted, “As I’ll ever be.”

“It should only feel like a pinch and then maybe like a hundred or so spiders crawling around your body, sounds fun right?”

Tony placed the chip onto Barnes shoulder and tapped it twice.

The reaction between the startup versus when the nanobots started actually forming was a split second hesitation.

Tony sat back and watched as the bots ran down Barnes shoulder and began to form an arm. Tony programmed them so that their initial reaction was to create an arm but Barnes could have as much fun as he liked with them.

He also wasn’t joking about the spider part, the bots resembled a hundred, thousand little spiders scurrying down to the elbow, the wrist, and the fingers. It was quite intriguing.

“All done,” He announced literally five seconds later.

Barnes looked down at his shoulder, “That was fast.”

“Great observation shoulder,” Tony snarked and then remembered himself, “If you wanna change the colour or design, you merely have to think of what you’d like.”

Tony waited for Barnes to change the navy blue or switch up the gold lining but he never did. He didn’t even change the gold Captain America symbol.

“Thank you, Stark.”

“Yeah, well it’s the least I could do.” Tony turned away, “You’re free to head back to your actual room, I think everyone’s ordered burgers for dinner.”

If Tony had watched Barnes leave through the reflection of the glass, it was no one's business.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony and bucky have created a routine together  
> and then life happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new years! sorry i know that's late but lmao i forget whether i wished ya'll new years.  
> sorry it's been a while, i'm on holidays but i've just been working a lot plus i haven't had much motivation.  
> but i'm back, and i've got some ideas for this fic  
> enjoyyyyy

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

Bucky’s not sure when it happened. The calm, comfortable atmosphere that he and Stark shared. It was nothing major, Bucky couldn’t sleep and Stark was always in the workshop late and somehow it ended up with the two of them sitting on the roof together. They rarely talked, just sat there, together. Stark would often bring food up, too much for him to eat alone, and would pretend not to notice Bucky finish his leftovers. Bucky would often bring a book, angling it a little too the left, and he’d pretend not to notice the billionaire reading along.

They didn’t tell anyone because, in all honesty, it was no one's business.

Tonight it was a little different though, it was the first time he’d seen Stark in a week. Bucky pretended he wasn’t unnerved by the man's disappearance because he wasn’t completely gone, he’d gone to conferences, business meetings, he’d come and go from the compound but he did, he wasn’t,  _ there _ .

Bucky was about to assume the genius had forgotten about him.

Yet, he still made his way to the roof, not because he was hoping Stark was there. That  _ wasn’t  _ the reason…

But Stark was there, sitting on the very edge with his legs dangling over the side, he was munching on a casserole Rhodey had made sometime that week. Bucky had tried it and could safely say it was in his Top 5 Favourite Foods list.

“Hey,” Stark greeted him as Bucky sat cross-legged beside him. He offered the casserole to him, “I’ve already eaten about three servings, can’t finish anymore.”

Bucky gave him a small smile and whispered a soft ‘thanks’.

“Sorry I haven’t been around this week.”

Bucky was about to tell him it didn’t matter, he hardly noticed but Stark kept talking.

“I’ve been a bit stressed, I did a talk on Trans Right and Stark Industries stock plummeted. Which isn’t that bad at all, I don’t want people like that buying from my company, but it meant I needed to focus all my time on SI with Pepper. Our public image has never been better though.”

“I’m sorry,” Bucky replied because what else was he supposed to say.

“Don’t be. I promised myself years ago to always do what was morally correct, no matter of consequences. The company has gone through worse.”

They trailed into a comfortable silence, Bucky finished the casserole off and laid the container next to his leg. He hadn’t brought a book up, didn’t think he would need one.

“How’s your arm?” Stark asked wringing his fingers together.

“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s good,” Bucky muttered, “Really good.”

“I could always add a speaker if you’d like? Blast some Queen on the battlefield,” He meant the suggestion light-heartedly but Bucky knew that he would do it in an instant.

“I think that would be a bit much,” Bucky chuckled.

“You’ve clearly never met me.” Stark met his gaze and held it.

Bucky couldn’t seem to look away and Stark didn’t seem to want to. The man looked restless, his eyes had large and dark bags underneath them. His cheeks were so much more hollow, his eyes didn’t seem to have the same kind of moisture in them, his hair was greyer than the last time Bucky saw him.

“Are you okay?” Bucky blurted out without thinking, he couldn’t help it.

The question snapped Stark out of his trance and at the same time, caused a mask to appear across his face.

The billionaire stood up and dusted off his pants, “Yep, all good here Buckaroo, should probably head to bed.”

He turned and left, his hands fumbled their way into his jeans pocket and his shoulders hunched forward.

Bucky was left to stare at him go, questions were racing through his mind, the first one being:

What the _ fuck _ just happened.

**********

Stark didn’t go back to the roof but he also didn’t disappear again. Bucky still saw him around the compound, in between classes and training. He wasn’t sure whether he should say something but every time he went to, the man averted his eyes or pretended to be busy. 

Bucky decided not to push his luck. They weren’t friends or anything.

It was a regular Wednesday, Bucky and Clint were supposed to start Political Science (Clint said it was punishment because they think we don’t know anything about the government).

Before they could even start, high-pitched sirens filled the room. 

Bucky looked to Clint, who confirmed what he already knew.

“There’s an attack.”

When they arrived at the conference room, it was no surprise to see Stark standing at the front, examining video feed.

“Stark, what’s happening?” Steve asked, gently pushing his way to the front. Oh no.

“Rogers, what are you doing?”

“My job, if there’s an attack, I want to help.”

Stark shook his head, he handed a tablet to Bruce and gave Steve his full attention.

“You’re not qualified to help on the field yet or did you forget that part of the pardon?”

“You need us.”

“I don’t,” Stark replied, “You’re a good soldier Rogers but I have a dozen others that are just as skilled. Until you’re finished training, we can’t allow you on missions.”

“Tony…” Steve began but Bucky clutched his arm and pulled him back.

“Steve, we have another week left, just let them handle this.”

He wanted to disagree so badly, Bucky could see it on his face but he also didn’t want to argue with his best friend. In the end, it overruled anything else.

Bucky turned to nod at Stark but the man had already turned his back on them, chatting with others around him.

He didn’t take it personally.

“Captain.”

Bucky nearly thought he meant Steves but Stark turned his attention to the blonde on his left, he recognised her as Carol Danvers.

“I need you to get a group together and secure the perimeter, no civilians get hurt.”

She nodded her head and grabbed five people to follow her, already giving off orders as they headed towards the landing deck.

Stark turned to the group, “Spider-man, Banner, Wasp, War Machine, and Doctor Strange, you’re with me.”

Bucky watched as they also left for the deck. However, he caught a glimpse of Stark’s conversation with Banner.

“I want you and the big guy to stay back, don’t get involved unless we need you, okay?”

“Thanks, Tones.”

They stepped into the elevator and left.

“What now?” Sam asked, watching as the other people in the room left until it was him, Bucky, Steve, Clint, Wanda, and Natalia.

Bucky took a seat at the front of the table, closest to the screens.

“FRIDAY, can you pull up the live feed?” He asked, watching from the corner of his eye as the rest followed his lead.

“One moment, Sergeant Barnes.” 

It took two minutes before the feed began appearing.

“Apologies, Boss has allowed you all to view the battle.”

Barnes nodded and ignored the soft, ‘of course we’d need his permission’ that came from Clint and Wanda.

He didn’t believe that they actually hated Stark, they were part of his team for many years, but he knew they didn’t like the feeling of being treated as children and it caused them to lash out.

They sat and watched and listened to the teams organise themselves. They were only allowed to view through Starks, Carols, and Rhodeys footage but it was more than enough for Bucky.

“Captain, how’s the perimeter?” Stark asked, his feed showed him sitting across from Banner in the helicarrier.

Danvers answered quickly from her spot in the city, “Secured. I’ve got Cage, Iron Fist, Jones, and Carter around the area.”

“How are the baddies looking?”

“They’ve stopped in the centre, my guess is they’re waiting for us.”

“Mmm, most likely,” Stark replied, he was munching his way through an apple and it made the words slightly hard to understand.

“Hasn’t changed a bit,” Sam muttered and the man was slightly smirking.

Bucky wondered, not for the first time, how they could turn on someone they clearly respect and care for?

“What’s your ETA?” Carol asked she was leaning against a building.

They were all so casual….

“Right now,” Stark answered as the quinjet landed on top a building with a conveniently placed landing deck. Stark turned towards the group, “Strange, I want you to keep them in our area if they make the slightest movement of trying to escape, teleport them back. War Machine, fly above and shoot them down. Spider-man, remember what we’ve talked about. Wasp, just be your usual self. I don’t want anyone to get hurt, civilians or otherwise.”

The quinjet opened and they moved out, War Machine, Iron Man, and Wasp flew out of the jet the circled the two vans.

Bucky hated the feeling in his stomach and he hated how Natalia reached over to grab his hand, whispering, “I feel it too.”

They all watched the live feed, Carol leaning against the building, War Machine hovering in the air, and finally Iron Man as he landed in front of the vans.

“Weapons ready,” FRIDAY answered, not to them but to Stark.

“Yoohoo, bad guys? Come out of the vans.” 

Bucky looked at Sam, who shrugged like it was no big deal, the man did it often.

“Just wanna talk, I’ve got a few questions for ya.”

They waited for a bit until the back door of the van slowly opened and three teenagers fell out. It happened so fast any normal person wouldn’t have been able to see.

The teenagers fell onto the ground and while everybody was focused on them, the vans skidded and sped in the opposite direction.

“War Machine, follow the vans, don’t let the perimeter break! Spider-man, back to the quinjet with Banner. Doctor, I need you to check them over, injuries, mind control, the likes. Wasp, help him out with that.” Iron Man gestured to the three kids on the ground and Bucky’s stomach felt sicker. 

What was the aim?

Iron Man took to the skies, “Rhodey, you got a visual on the vans?”

“They’ve completely dropped off the raider. They turned into an alley and just, vanished Tones. Not even the vehicles are here, nothing.”

Stark dropped down next to Rhodes, he moved through the alley, touching the walls and examining the ground.

In a voice softer than a whisper, he said, “What the fuck?”

As Stark turned to Rhodes, Doctor Strange began talking on the coms.

“Stark, you might want to come back here.”

It didn’t take long for Stark and Rhodes to take off and fly back to the quinjet, Carol was standing outside, her expression grim, even as Rhodey drew her into a hug.

“Stephen?” Stark called out, stepping into the quinjet after making sure Carol was alright (she was, the vehicles had been moving away from her).

“In here Tony.” It was Banner who replied, he was standing above a bed, tablet in one hand and the other clutching a railing.

Bucky could see the three teenagers all lying perfectly still, comatose.

“They’re in a comatose state. Physically, they’re healthy, above healthy actually but mentally, that’s where it gets weird. I can’t get a good diagnosis here, we need to take them to the compound.”

Stark sucked in a breath, “Okay but I want precautions put in place, we don’t know what they are, who they work for, or where they came from. Until I can get some cold hard facts, they’re guilty.”

Bucky agreed with him and Natalia nodded along as well. He didn’t want to ask the others their thoughts, he was sure they’d deny agreeing with Stark anyway.

“FRIDAY, disconnect the feed.”

It was the last thing they all heard before the screens went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gonna be honest with ya'll, this chapter took an unexpected turn  
> like no joke  
> i didn't even know that i was going to write about those kids lmao  
> but i like it  
> and i know where i want this fic to go  
> Also I want to know whether you guys know where I'm going with this so comment below what you think.  
> see you soon!


End file.
